Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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443. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to reverse cuts, introduced during the economic recession, in the services to children with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6786/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Budget 2015 included an increase in spending on education for the first time in recent years, amounting to additional funding of €60m during 2015.

This funding will be used to provide 1,700 additional teachers and SNAs for our schools, as well as to fund prioritised reforms, such as implementation of the literacy and numeracy strategy, reform of junior cycle, and the introduction of education focussed pre-school inspections.

This Government has been resolutely committed to protecting, and where possible, increasing, the level of investment being made to support children with special educational needs at a time when there has been a requirement to make expenditure reductions across a range of areas. It is an area of spending which has been prioritised above most other areas by this Government, despite the enormous pressures on all areas of public spending.

Some €1.37 billion will be spent in support of children with Special Educational Needs this year, which represents approximately 15% of my Department's budget.

There has been no reduction in the overall number of Special Needs Assistant or resource teaching/learning support posts being provided for schools.

On the contrary, 365 new Special Needs Assistant posts and 480 new resource teaching posts have been provided to support children with special educational needs in schools in 2015, bringing the total number of SNAs available for allocation in 2015 to 11,330 posts and the total number of resource teaching posts to 6,705.

Over 11,000 resource and learning support teaching posts are now available. This is the highest level of SNA and resource teaching allocations that we have ever had, and will ensure that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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444. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way she proposes to address serious concerns expressed by school principals, regarding the school profiling element of the proposed new special needs model; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6787/15]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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445. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the National Council for Special Education and her Department have decided to move away from individualised allocations to school profiling, as an element of the new special needs resource model; when the Department of Health is planning to introduce individualised funding for children with an intellectual disability; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6788/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 444 and 445 together.

The Deputy will be aware that last week I announced that I am not proposing to change the way teachers are allocated to schools for children with Special Educational Needs for the coming school year.

In making this decision to retain the current model for allocating resource and learning support teachers for the coming year, I have been guided by the advice of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) Working Group report, which recommended that sufficient time should be allowed for further consultation to take place with the education stakeholders before the new model is implemented in schools.

Through consultations which have already taken place, there was a broad welcome for the proposed new model from Parents, disability groups, schools and stakeholders. However, while there has been significant consultation in relation to the proposed new model, there has not been sufficient time to address fully all of the concerns which have been raised, particularly those concerns relating to the profiling of schools, in advance the September 2015 school year.

In particular, a robust mechanism for identifying children with complex special educational needs has yet to be finalised. Similarly it will be important to ensure that the concerns that successful schools continue to receive appropriate levels of support to ensure that their successes can be maintained are addressed.

The proposed new allocation model was developed following advice received from the NCSE which indicated that the current model which requires that there is a formal assessment and diagnosis in place before an allocation is provided is unfair. The advice recommended removing diagnosis as a prerequisite for receiving support. The NCSE working group provided additional advice recommending that providing support to schools based on their educational profile was the best way currently available to ensure that schools would be able to support all children with special educational needs who needed such support.

While the proposed new model is not proceeding for the coming year, it is not the case that the proposed new model would deny children access to additional support based on their individual needs. The new model proposes to provide schools with an allocation based on their school profile, from which schools can provide resources to children taking into account the individual needs of each child.

Under the current model which remain in place for the coming school year, schools will be allocated support calculated on the basis of the numbers of qualifying applications which are received by the NCSE. The current model does not entitle an individual child to a specific quantum of hours or make an individualised allocation for a children, as the totality of the allocation is made to the school for the benefit of all children with Special Educational Needs.

Work will continue in the coming months to develop the proposed new allocation model and to address the range of concerns which were identified through the consultations which have taken place so far, including the manner in which school profiles are developed.

I have asked my Department to design a pilot of the new model which schools could opt into on a voluntary basis.

Continuing consultation with stakeholders will be a vital part of the ongoing work.