Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will confirm that a person (details supplied) is not employed by the Special Education Support Service but is in fact on part-time secondment from a college. [51729/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Teachers continue to be employed by their Boards of Management while on secondment to work with the Special Education Support Service (SESS). There are eighteen full-time members on the SESS team together with one part-time specialist advisor.

Currently, the full-time members on the SESS team are seconded from their primary and post-primary schools. The part-time specialist advisor is on secondment from the college referred to by the Deputy.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he has taken to implement the recommendations of the National Council for Special Educators report into Evidence of Best Practice Models and Outcomes into the Education of Children with Emotional Disturbances and Behavioural Difficulties; the steps he has taken to implement the recommendation that behavioural psychologists and other psychology professionals have proposed to implement direct interventions with students with EBD within the school context. [51730/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that I welcome the publication of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) policy advice on the Education of Students with Severe Emotional Disturbance or Behavioural Disorders. The report makes recommendations as to how education can in the future best be provided for such children, while also ensuring minimal disruption for other pupils.

My Department will consider the recommendations of this report and will prepare a plan for the appropriate implementation of these recommendations, including the recommendation referred to by the Deputy, in the context of available resources. In the interim, schools will continue to be supported through the provision of additional resource teaching and special needs assistant support.

My Department also published earlier this year new Guidelines for Schools on Supporting Students with Behavioural, Emotional, and Social difficulties, which are available on my Departments website at www.education.ie. In addition, schools may also seek advice from the National Educational Psychological Service, their Special Educational Needs Organiser, or from the National Behavioural Support Service, on how children with behavioural needs can best be supported in schools.