Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will safeguard the required funding to ensure that children who are visually impaired or blind will be able to receive adequate numbers of Braille books in order that their education will not be disadvantaged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37084/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Braille Production Centre (NBPC) is a national service which provides access to educational materials by transcriptions through a range of formats, accessible for children with a visual impairment. The formats currently catered for are: Braille, tactile diagrams, Large Print and text-only files on computer disk. The NBPC is funded by the Department of Education and Science and in 2009 a grant of €1,150,000 was allocated to the centre.

The NBPC's current policy is to make one print copy of brailled books available in hard copy format to the client and provide an alternative electronic copy that schools/parents can arrange to braille. In exceptional circumstances, the NBPC will provide a second copy of the braille books.

I can assure the Deputy that funding for special educational needs remains a key priority within my Department.