Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 665: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will approve an application by a school (details supplied) in County Cork for the provision of laptops; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22466/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENO) for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants to schools to support children with special needs. SENOs also make recommendations to my Department where assistive technology is required.

My Department has no record of receiving a recommendation for laptops for pupils with special educational needs attending the school in question. The existing assistive technology scheme is targeted at individual circumstances where pupils have very specific educational needs and the purpose of the grant-aid is to provide the pupils in question with equipment of direct educational benefit to them. Grant aid in accordance with this scheme is provided for individual pupils with special educational needs. The scheme does not extend to the provision of laptops for resource classes.

Under my Department's School Building Programme, new post-primary school buildings projects include ICT equipment budgets and as the Deputy may also be aware, some €2.2m was recently provided in ICT equipment grants to 72 primary schools in which a newly constructed school or large-scale extension was completed in 2008. Grants were also issued to some 500 post-primary schools to upgrade their facilities to provide the new Technology syllabus and the revised Design and Communication Graphics syllabus with effect from September 2007. It is understood that some 11,000 computers have been acquired in this context, with schools using their own funding in some instances. In addition, the Grant Scheme for Minor Works to National School Properties includes ICT equipment within the range of approved school expenditure.

All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie. I have arranged for the details supplied by the Deputy to be forwarded to the NCSE for their attention and direct reply.