Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a national school pupil (details supplied) suffering from dsypraxia has been told by his Department that his-her application for resource hours will not be assessed until June 2012; if his attention has been drawn to the damaging effect that this delay will have on the pupil; the rationale for the delay and the steps he will take to rectify the problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13427/12]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 88: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has issued a directive to the National Council for Special Education to pause the processing of applications for resource hours in primary schools until June 2012; the reasons underpinning this decision; if his attention has been drawn to the hardship that such an instruction will cause students and families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13428/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 87 and 88 together.

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 to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support.

All schools have now received their resource teaching allocations for the current school year, based on the number of valid applications for resource teaching support received by the NCSE to 25 November, 2011, and taking into account my Departments Employment Control Framework obligations which limits the number of overall resource teaching posts which may be allocated to schools. The NCSE recently published statistical information on SNA and resource teaching allocations on a county by county and school by school basis, including in relation to the school referred to by the Deputy, on its website www.ncse.ie.

Where a pupil meets the criteria for Resource Teaching support, following diagnosis or enrolment to a school which does not have any existing allocation of resource teaching support, the NCSE may make an allocation for such pupils from the small pool of remaining posts which have been reserved for such emergencies or eventualities. Schools fulfilling such criteria may make an application to the NCSE for additional resource teaching hours.

Schools have been advised to make applications to the NCSE for resource teaching support for the 2012/13 school year by 16 March, 2012. They will be advised by early May 2012 of their allocation for the 2012/13 school year, based on the number of valid applications received by 16 March.