Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the circumstances in which a special education needs officers can overrule a specific and explicit recommendation by a consultant child psychiatrist that a pupil being treated by him or her should have access to a special needs assistant. [19144/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) and Disability Acts set out clearly the role and functions of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) and their staff in carrying out assessments and with regard to the provision of services for children with special educational needs.

Responsibility for deciding on the quantum of educational supports and resources to be allocated to schools, or to individual pupils, rests with the NCSE in accordance with my Departments policy. Whereas health reports provide valuable assistance to education providers in identifying a diagnosis or identifying appropriate interventions, health staff are asked not to include references to the specific quantum of educational resources in their reports, but should state the outcome of tests carried out and the range of needs of the child as clearly as possible as the responsibility for allocating educational supports and resources to children or schools, rests with the NCSE.