Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 461: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in County Donegal, which has 690 pupils with a staff of 43 teachers, 32 special needs assistants, a music therapist and a librarian, is struggling to continue to provide unique and much valued teaching and related services, including the provision of four classes for pupils with autism, two classes for pupils with moderate general disability, one class for pupils with severe and profound and learning disability and one class for pupils with specific learning disability/dyslexia; if, in the context of this range of much needed services, he will acknowledge the necessity to maintain the music therapy component of the integrated educational services which this school is providing; the extra resources he proposes to make available for the academic year 2008/2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25565/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides for the education of children with special educational needs through the allocation of teachers and special care assistants; enhanced levels of funding for special schools and schools with special classes; the provision of assistive technology and/or specialist equipment, where needed; and the provision of special school transport arrangements.

There are now over 19,000 staff in schools working solely with children with special needs. This includes over 10,000 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) compared with just 300 in 1997. There are also over 7,800 resource and learning support teachers — compared with about 2,000 in 1998. More than 1,100 other teachers support children in our special schools, while hundreds more work in special classes.

The Department's Teacher Education Section has developed a strategy designed to meet the continuing professional development needs of personnel working with children with special educational needs. This involves a major expansion of the range of postgraduate professional training programmes available to teachers in the special needs area and the ongoing development of the Special Education Support Service to support schools staff locally. As an indicator of the level of training available past three years, the Department of Education and Science has provided the following number of training places via the Special Education Support Service:

2008: 22,000

2007: 17,000

2006: 15,000

I have no plans to extend these supports to include a music therapy service.