Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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210. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when an application for the July education programme will be assessed in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Donegal. [33150/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that a full allocation of 40 hours under the Home Based July Provision scheme has been approved in this case. The applicant was informed of this allocation by letter dated 3 July 2013.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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211. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if Downs syndrome is recognised as a disability for resource hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33162/13]

Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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227. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his position in regard to the recommendation of the National Council for Special Education, in its policy advice paper number four that children with Down syndrome are allocated additional resources in line with their level of need rather than by disability category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33391/13]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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239. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason pupils with Down syndrome have only general allocation hours in mainstream schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33524/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 211, 227 and 239 together.

I wish to advise the Deputies that pupils with Down Syndrome attending mainstream schools may receive additional teaching support in primary schools, either under the terms of the General Allocation Model (GAM) of teaching supports, if the pupil's educational psychological assessment places the pupil in the mild general learning disability/high incidence disability category, or through an allocation of individual additional resource teaching hours which are allocated by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), if the child is assessed as being within the low incidence category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular Sp Ed 02/05. Pupils with Down Syndrome may be allocated resources under the category of mild general learning disability, or under the categories of moderate general learning difficulty or Assessed Syndrome, in conjunction with another Low Incidence disability.

I wish to explain to the Deputies also that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has a formal role under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act, 2004 in advising me in relation to any matter relating to the education of children and others with disabilities. My Department requested that the NCSE consider the issue of whether Down Syndrome should be reclassified as a low incidence disability in all instances, regardless of assessed cognitive ability, in the context of its preparation of comprehensive advice on how the educational system supports children with special educational needs in schools.

The NCSE report on Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs in Schools has now been published and is available on the NCSE website www.ncse.ie. The report recommends that under the new resource allocation model proposed by the NCSE in its report, children should be allocated additional resources in line with their level of need, rather than by disability category. The NCSE has recommended that in the short-term, pupils with Down Syndrome who are in the Mild General Learning Disability (Mild GLD) category should continue to be supported by schools' Learning Support allocation in the same way as other pupils with a Mild GLD. The NCSE policy advice did not recommend that an exception should be made for children with Down Syndrome who are in the Mild GLD range, over other children who are in the mild range and who also may have other co-morbid conditions.

However, the NCSE report states that it is confident that the introduction of a new allocation model will overcome the difficulty posed by all children with mild general learning disabilities, including children with Down Syndrome, who have additional difficulties and who can be supported according to their level of need and in line with their learning plan process. In the meantime, schools are reminded that they can differentiate the level of learning support granted to ensure that available resources are used to support children in line with their needs.

I have requested the NCSE to immediately proceed to establish a Working Group in order to develop a proposal for consideration for a new Allocation Model, which is set out as one of the principal recommendations of the report.