Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider, by way of minimising the distress to parents in schools when a special needs assistant review is planned, that his Department and National Council for Special Education make, as a matter of course, a public presentation to parents, teachers and principals, at the outset, in order to minimise communications failures and to ensure that parents are suitably armed with the right documentary evidence to support their child's case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27433/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware 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.

My Department's criteria in relation to the allocation of SNA support is set out in Circular 07/02. Special Needs Assistants are allocated to schools to cater for the care needs of children who have an assessed special educational need.

Schools then manage and deploy the SNA resources which have been allocated to them to provide for the care needs of designated pupils.

In considering applications for SNA support, or any review of the level of SNA support which has been provided to schools, SENOs actively engage with both schools and parents to consider the level of SNA support which may be required to meet the care needs of the children concerned, taking into account the level of SNA support currently available to the school.

In circumstances where parents obtain new medical reports or relevant information, they should submit this information through their school to the NCSE so that it might be considered as part of any review process.

The NCSE expects to respond to emergency cases on hand within the coming weeks. The outcome of a review of special school SNA allocations is expected early in the school year. Other demands from mainstream schools will be responded to up to the end of the school year. Through these arrangements it is expected that the majority of the SNA posts which have yet to be allocated, will have been allocated by early in 2012.

The NCSE will advise schools early in the new school year of a process to review allocation decisions to ensure that correct procedures were followed and that they comply with my Department's policy. The merits of individual allocation decisions will not be open to appeal under this mechanism.

It will be expected that schools, before requesting a review, will be in a position to demonstrate that they have made every effort to manage their allocation of SNA posts to best effect.