Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will grant the assistance of a special needs assistant in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare whose speech therapist and pre-school teacher have indicated that they will strongly benefit from the provision of an SNA; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46467/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, 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. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education supports and the staffing resources available to my Department.

The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014, which is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.

SNAs are allocated to schools to enable them to support pupils with disabilities who also have significant care needs. 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.

In considering applications for SNA supports for individual pupils, the SENOs take account of the pupils' needs and consider the resources available to the school to identify whether additionality is needed or whether the school might reasonably be expected to meet the needs of the pupils from its current level of resources.

It is a matter for schools to make applications to the NCSE for SNA support for pupils who are enrolled to their schools. Schools who wish to make new applications for SNA support for pupils may continue to make such applications 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.