Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 501: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to provide a school place for an autistic child (details supplied) in County Waterford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8868/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I understand from my officials that the child in question is on the waiting list for placement in a stand alone unit utilising the applied behavioural analysis, ABA, methodology for children on the autistic spectrum. Approval on a pilot basis was given to this facility in a letter issued by my Department on 31 May 2005. Enrolment is a matter for the board of management of the facility. A technical inspection of the proposed premises was recently carried out to assess its suitability and officials in the school planning section of my Department will be in further contact with the management authority of the school regarding the issue.

As the Deputy is aware the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is now operational. A specific function of the NCSE, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is to identify appropriate educational placements for all children with special educational needs, including children with autism. The SENO is a focal point of contact for parents and schools. Contact with the relevant SENO can be made by contacting the NCSE at 046-9486400 or alternatively by accessing the NCSE website at www.ncse.ie. The Department is continuing to fund a home tuition grant to the family concerned pending the provision of an educational placement.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 502: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the resource teachers available to colleges of further education or PLCs which have significant numbers of non-English speaking non-national students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8869/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has put in place a number of measures at all levels to help non-English speaking students to make the most of the educational opportunities available to them.

These include the provision of language support teachers and non-pay resources for primary and post-primary schools to cater for the needs of pupils for whom English is not the mother tongue; the provision of funding to Integrate Ireland Language and Training, IILT, on a pilot basis, to co-ordinate the provision of English language support for adult refugees admitted to Ireland; to develop English language proficiency benchmarks for the adult education sector and for the school sector; to design and deliver English language courses appropriate to the needs of adult refugees; the publication of the White Paper on Adult Education, Learning for Life, which recommends that the principles of equality and interculturalism should underpin all educational provision; the issuing of an information booklet on asylum seekers by the Department to schools and the publication of guidelines for schools on intercultural education; and the development of modules in interculturalism for use across the further education sector. The modules have now been approved at foundation level and levels 1 and 2 by the Further Education and Training Awards Council.

While language support teachers are only provided in primary and post-primary schools, within adult literacy services funds may be expended to cater for the literacy and language needs of adults for whom English is not the mother tongue and many VECs do this.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 503: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on the fact that the issues relating to persons (details supplied) in County Kilkenny have not been resolved by her Department; if the educational placement and supports for their children will be provided by her Department in full; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8878/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I understand from my officials that the local special educational needs organiser is liaising with the family in question in the context of arranging an early meeting to discuss the issues in question. My Department is continuing to fund a home tuition grant to the family concerned pending the provision of an appropriate educational placement.