Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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100. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding remedial and special needs teachers (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39331/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that class teachers in schools are required to be fully-qualified with a qualification relevant to the sector in which they are teaching.

It has been the policy of my Department for some time that only qualified and registered teachers should be employed by schools. This is set out most recently in Circular Letters 31/2011 and 0025/2013. Current recruitment procedures direct schools to ensure that teachers proposed for appointment to publicly paid posts must be registered with the Teaching Council and have qualifications appropriate to the sector and suitable to the post for which they are proposed.

In respect of Learning Support (LS) and Resource Teaching (RT) positions in primary schools, Boards of Management are obliged to recruit and employ fully recognised and probated primary teachers.

It is a matter for school authorities to employ teachers in accordance with the Department's policy in this regard and the deployment of teaching staff in the school is in the first instance a matter for the school management authorities.

The details of qualifications for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) is set out in Departmental Circular 21/2011.

People appointed to SNA posts from 1 September 2011 are required to have:

1. A FETAC level 3 major qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications, OR 2. A minimum of three grade Ds in the Junior Certificate, OR3. Equivalent

The above are the minimum qualifications required for appointment as a SNA. The actual requirements for a post will vary depending on the specific needs of the children and the school to which the SNA is to be appointed.