Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 15: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to instruct the National Council for Special Education to extend the schools appeals process it intends to have in place for the 2012/2013 school year. [30974/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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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 Resource Teaching and 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 budgetary and staffing resources available to my Department.

SENOs are currently notifying schools of their Resource Teaching and SNA allocations for 2012/13, based on the number of valid applications received and the extent of the care needs of qualifying children. The NCSE is developing an appeals process which I understand will be in place when the schools re-open in September 2012 and will extend beyond the 2012/2013 school year into the future.