Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 255: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason adequate educational facilities for a person (details supplied) in County Kildare are not being provided; her plans to provide the staff to open the special units provided already throughout north Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4590/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that 20 hours per week home tuition has been sanctioned for the child in question for the 2006/2007 school year. 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 placement for all children with special educational needs. The SENO is a focal point of contact for parents and schools. It is open to the parent to contact the SENO directly regarding the child's needs. Contact details for the SENO may be sourced from the NCSE at (046) 9486400. Alternatively, these details may be accessed on the NCSE website at www.ncse.ie.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the autism-specific class in Scoil Bhríde Naas is open and has been in operation since 1st September 2006. As I advised the Deputy recently, I have requested that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) formally submit to my Department an up to date report on the situation concerning the North Kildare Educate Together school with recommendations on how to proceed. I wish to assure the Deputy that my Department has undertaken to provide a staffing complement to this class in line with staffing levels provided to all other such autism classes.

The Deputy will be aware of my commitment to ensuring that all children, including those with autism receive an education appropriate to their needs, preferably through the primary and post primary school network. In this regard my Department has established: 181 special classes for children with autism, attached to special and mainstream schools, 17 of which are in the Kildare area; 5 special classes for children with Asperger's Syndrome; 16 pre-school classes to facilitate the demand for early intervention provision for children on the autistic spectrum; 14 Stand Alone facilities providing an Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) specific methodology on a pilot basis, 1 of these facilities based in the Kildare area, with 2 yet to be established.