Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the allocation of special needs assistants to a particular school (details supplied) in County Cork for the 2012/13 school year is being reassessed; if he will agree to become involved in the matter in view of the exceptional circumstances that apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33014/12]

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 an independent agency with responsibility for determining the appropriate staffing levels in relation to the support of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of supports to schools and the staffing resources available to my Department.

The Deputy will appreciate that it would be inappropriate of me to intervene in the resource allocation process which would be to compromise the independence of the role of the NCSE as set out in the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act, 2004.

As I advised the Deputy in my PQ reply of 21 June, 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. Whereas I understand that schools may wish to maintain current staffing levels, the NCSE must ensure that where there are surplus SNA posts in a school, these must be redirected to meet the needs of children who need this valuable support.

I am sure the Deputy will agree that at a time of constrained resources it is essential that SNA numbers are managed and deployed as prudently and as effectively as possible. Resources left in an area that are not in accordance with criteria mean public resources are not available for another deserving area. 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.

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.