Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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166. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in view of the fact that the percentage of children attending primary school is increasing annually, if the cap on special education assistants leading to a shortage of essential classrooms supports for children with special needs. [2671/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools. SNAs are allocated to schools in order to provide for the care needs of children with special educational needs attending such schools. The policy of my Department in relation to the SNA scheme is set out in Circular 07/02, which also provides details regarding the role and duties of an SNA.

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

I wish to advise the Deputy that SNAs are not allocated to individual pupils. The NCSE allocates a quantum of SNA support for each school annually taking into account the care needs of all of the qualifying children enrolled in the school, and on the basis of the assessed care needs of the children, rather than solely by reference to a pupils' disability categorisation.

SNAs should then be deployed by schools in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.

There has been no reduction in the number of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) available to schools this year, with 10,575 posts remaining available for allocation.

The fact that the number of special needs assistant posts are being maintained at current levels is a reflection of this Governments commitment to prioritising supports for children with special educational needs, at a time when there is a requirement to make expenditure savings across a range of areas.

All children who have qualified for such support this year have been provided with access to SNA support. Notwithstanding the fact that there is potential for demographic growth in the pupil population over the coming years, there has been no indication to date that there are insufficient SNA posts to cater for the care needs of all children with special educational needs who qualify for SNA support.

It should also be noted that the total number of posts which are available for allocation, which is 10,575 posts, remains significantly greater than the number which were allocated to schools in recent years, for example, 10,342 posts at the end of 2009 and 10,442 posts at the end of 2008.