Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 517: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers trained to deal specifically with children in the primary school system in Dublin south east for whom English in not their first language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4684/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to ensuring that all children get the necessary support that they need to do well at school. In order to ensure that children whose first language is not English can fully participate at school, my Department is providing extensive training in teaching English as a foreign language for primary teachers specifically assigned to teach children whose first language is not English.

Integrate Ireland Language and Training (IILT), a campus company of Trinity College Dublin, is funded by my Department to provide training and resource materials to assist schools in meeting the needs of pupils for whom English is a second language. A wide range of teaching resources has been developed by IILT which are available on their website at www.iilt.ie or directly from IILT.

Since September 2005, 15 teachers from the Dublin South East region have attended the IILT in-service seminars. 4 of these teachers attended the most recent seminars, which were held in December 2006. Recent years have seen a significant rise in the number of language support posts being provided by my Department. In the current school year, 879 whole-time equivalent language support teachers are in place at primary level. This compares with 562 in place at primary level in the previous school year and 149 language support teachers in the school year 2001/02. Thus, there has been over a five-fold increase in language support teachers at primary level in just 5 years.

The 2007 Estimates provided for 200 extra language support teachers. The new posts will mainly be for primary schools and will go to the schools with the highest number of foreign national children and are part of the 550 extra language teachers promised under the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016.

So the Government is increasing resources in this area in line with rising demand. However, it is still a relatively new area which is rapidly expanding and as such must be kept under review to ensure that children are getting the support that they need and that this support is proving effective in helping them to make the most of their time at school.