Written answers

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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245. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a primary school in County Cork has had its special needs assistant allocation cut from four posts to two for the forthcoming school year; if his attention has been drawn to the impact this will have on the education of children with special needs attending the school; if this decision can be reviewed by the National Council for Special Education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29311/14]

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) have allocated over 10,900 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts in schools to support students with special needs for the 2014/2015 school year. The exact numbers of SNAs will become clear when enrolments of students in mainstream schools are finalised in September.

SNA posts are allocated to schools that have enrolled students with disabilities who also have significant care needs. All students who are eligible to access SNA support and for whom an application has been made, will have this support in place in September.

Each school's allocation of SNA support can change from year to year as students go from primary to post-primary; graduate from post-primary; change schools – from one primary or post-primary school to a different one; or from a special school or special class placement to a mainstream placement or vice versa. New students with care needs may, or may not, enrol to replace students who have left. There is always a significant churn of posts within the system.

An appeals process will be in place for the 2014/15 school years. Details are available on www.ncse.ie.

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