Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 46: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in view of his approval of the recent announcement by the National Council for Special Education of the allocation of Special Needs Assistants for the 2012/2013 school year, if these allocations represent the final staffing allocation to each school in respect of the 2012/2013 school year; and if he will reconsider the decision to remove four SNA posts from a school (details supplied) in County Cork in view of the fact the school caters solely for children on the ASD spectrum aged between three and six and that overall national allocation of SNA's remain at 10,575 whole time equivalent posts [30077/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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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 processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports including Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support, to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of such supports and the staffing resources available to my Department. The NCSE has confirmed that the SNA allocation for the school in question for the 2012/13 school year is a sufficient level of support to cater for the care needs of all qualifying children in the context of the applications received for the 2012/13 school year.

The SNA allocation to the school for 2011/2012 was reviewed by the NCSE which found that the school had a surplus of 4 SNA posts. Having considered the allocation for the coming school year the NCSE has allocated SNA support to meet the requirements of all qualifying children. The 4 surplus SNA posts identified in the review remain surplus to requirements as determined in accordance with the Departments criteria for the allocation of SNA posts and will be removed so that they can be allocated elsewhere where they are needed. It is worth noting that this school has been allocated 12 SNA posts for the forthcoming school year, which is an extensive provision of resources by any measure.

Following the allocation of SNA posts for the coming school year the NCSE will have some 264 posts available for allocation throughout the school year in respect of late or emergency cases arising or new diagnosis. Based on previous experience it is expected that this number of posts will be sufficient to meet any late or emergency demand arising. It is expected that schools seeking to have their SNA provision reviewed, before requesting any review of their SNA provision, will be in a position to demonstrate that they have made every effort to manage their allocation of SNA posts to best effect. It is open to schools to contact their local SENO in this regard, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.