Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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173. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if and when the much required low incidence teaching hours and special needs assistant support can be facilitated in the case of a child (details supplied) in County Kildare, whose application has the full support of the mainstream school that the child will attend in September 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20928/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teaching and Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support to schools to support children with special educational needs and additional care needs, respectively.

The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support.

The NCSE has now published details of the resource teaching allocations which will be made to each school for September 2015 on its website www.ncse.ie. The NCSE will also have a second round allocation process to respond to late enrolments, or from diagnosed disabilities emerging after the closing date for the first allocation round, to the start of the new school year.

Schools will be advised of their revised SNA allocations for the 2015/16 school year, prior to the end of the current school year.

It is a matter for schools to monitor and utilise their allocation of additional teaching support to best support the needs of identified pupils, in accordance with my Department's guidance. The teaching time afforded to each individual pupil is managed by schools, taking into account each child's individual learning needs.

In relation to SNA support, 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. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management.

Should a parent be dissatisfied with the manner in which the resources or facilities which have been provided to support their child's education are being applied in school, they should raise this matter directly with their school Principal or the Board of Management of the school.

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.