Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a comparative analysis of the ratio of pupils and special needs assistants servicing national schools compared to primary schools in the Six Counties. [19251/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number.

It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources that there should be sufficient posts to provide access to SNA support for all children who require such care support to attend school, in accordance with Departmental criteria.

I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts.

The NCSE has issued a circular to all schools advising of the allocation process for the 2011/2012 school year. A key feature of the amended scheme will be to provide for an annual allocation of Special Needs Assistant support to eligible schools.

The NCSE asked schools to submit all applications for SNA support to them by 18 March, 2011 and are currently in the process of informing schools of their annual SNA allocation for the coming school year.

My Department does not have details of the level of allocation of Special Needs Assistants, or comparative support grades, in Northern Ireland.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Question 101: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reconsider the withdrawal of a special needs assistant in respect of a child (details supplied) in view of the exceptional circumstances of the case. [19271/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to clarify for the Deputy that Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations are not permanent, as the level of SNA support allocated to a school may be increased or decreased as pupils who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. They are also decreased where a child's care needs may have diminished over time.

The recruitment and deployment of SNAs within schools are matters for the individual Principal/Board of Management. The Board is the SNA's employer and the terms of employment are subject to the conditions of the contract of employment.