Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 86: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of special needs assistants employed in 1997; the number employed in February 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33837/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware of this Government's commitment to the protection of frontline services for pupils with special educational needs. 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts are being provided for primary, post-primary and special schools for the coming school year in order to support the care needs of pupils with disabilities.

The specific information requested by the Deputy in relation to the number of SNAs employed as at February 2011 is not readily available, however, the most recent available figures show that as at January 2011 there were 10,543 WTE SNA posts in place, compared with just 300 posts in 1997.

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 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 advised all mainstream schools of their SNA allocations for the 2011/12 school year and has recently published statistical information in relation to the allocation of SNA posts and resource teaching hours to Primary Special and Post Primary Schools. The information is provided on a county by county and school by school basis on its website at www.ncse.ie.