Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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538. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a special needs assistant will be provided in the case of a child (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37125/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. Where children have significant care needs whereby they may need additional support to be able to attend school, the NCSE may make an allocation of SNA support to the school to assist that child.

The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.

The deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school 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.

It is important to note that each school's allocation of SNA support can change from year to year and may be increased or decreased as students who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. New students with care needs may, or may not, enrol to replace students who have left, for example, or SNA allocations may be decreased where a child's care needs have diminished over time. There is always a significant churn of posts within the system.

The NCSE has allocated over 10,900 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts to schools to support students with special needs for the 2014/2015 school year. A school by school breakdown of SNA allocations for 2014/15 school year is available at www.ncse.ie.

However, the SNA allocation process is still ongoing. Should a school wish to make an application for additional SNA support for a child who was not previously considered for SNA support or who is due to enrol to a school, they may do so to the NCSE.

All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.