Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the provision of special needs resources in primary schools; his plans to maintain such resources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51332/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that this Government is committed to the provision of resources for children with special educational needs. The Programme for Government sets out that education will be a priority for this Government and that we will endeavour to protect and enhance the educational experience of children, young people and students. Approximately 15% of the entire budget of my Department – some €1.3 billion – was spent in support of children with Special Educational Needs in 2011. The provision for the current year is in line with expenditure last year and shows that despite the current economic difficulties, the overall level of funding for special education has been retained.

In line with this Government's commitment to 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, of which 8,306 WTE SNAs have been allocated to Primary and Special Schools for the 2012/13 school year.

- Approximately 9,950 learning support/resource teacher posts, including those provided under the General Allocation Model, are also being provided in primary and post primary schools in order to provide additional teaching support to pupils with special educational needs,of which over 7,100 WTE posts are being provided in Primary schools.

- Approximately €1.3m is also provided annually to schools for assistive technology support, of which almost €1m is provided for Primary and Special schools.

- Over 1,100 teachers are also being provided for in special schools providing teaching to pupils with various disabilities at much reduced pupil teacher ratios, for example the autism PTR is 6:1 and the moderate general learning disability PTR is 8:1.

- Early educational intervention is provided for children with autism from 2½ years of age. There are now 76 early intervention classes for children with autism attached to mainstream schools that are funded by the Department. Funding is also provided through the home tuition programme for children with autism who are unable to access placement in an early intervention class.

This is in addition to funding provided by my Department in respect of school building adaptations, special School Transport arrangements and enhanced capitation rates which are payable to most special schools and special classes.

The continued commitment of this Government to special education provision, at a time when savings are being required across a range of expenditure areas, has ensured that children with special educational needs can continue to have access to educational facilities in line with their requirements. While it is not possible to anticipate future budgetary decisions, my Government is committed to the protection of frontline services for pupils with special educational needs.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will remove the cap on the number of special needs assistants in order to allow resources to be allocated on the basis of need; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51334/12]

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. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of such supports and the staffing resources available to my Department.

10,575 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) SNA posts have been made available for allocation to schools by the NCSE throughout the current school year, subject to qualifying applications being received. The NCSE allocates a level of SNA support for each school annually, taking into account the assessed care needs of all of the qualifying children enrolled in the school. The NCSE initially allocated 10,311 WTE SNA posts to schools for the 2012/13 school year in June of this year, based on the number of valid applications received and the extent of the care needs of qualifying children. A further 103 WTE SNA posts have since been allocated to schools which leave 161 posts available for allocation throughout the school year for new assessments of disability, new entrants, or emergency or late applications, in accordance with the terms of the SNA scheme. The NCSE has estimated that based on the experience of last year, these posts should be sufficient to meet demand during the school year.

The NCSE has also advised that every child who has met the criteria for access to SNA support in the current school year to date is in receipt of such support.

Finally, I wish to confirm to the Deputy that this Government remains committed to protecting services for children with special educational needs. The number of SNA posts available for allocation to schools for the 2012/13 school year has been maintained, at a time when there has been a requirement to make savings across a range of expenditure areas.