Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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539. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide a detailed breakdown of the specific measures, for example, the number of new teachers or special needs assistants to be employed in 2016, to be provided for in the health sector as part of the demographic provision in Budget 2016. [33191/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Circular 0030/2014, which is available on my Department's website www.education.ie, sets out my Department's policy in relation to the Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme.

This Circular states that SNA support is provided in recognised primary, post primary schools and special schools only, and that it is not provided in centres such as medical facilities or hospitals, which will generally have a care dimension incorporated into their own staffing arrangements.

In certain circumstances my Department provides for some teaching provision in health sector facilities, however, this is generally provided for through the co-operation teaching hours scheme which is operated by Education and Training Boards (ETBs) where the local service provider makes application to the relevant ETB for tuition hours. As such it is not normally provided through designated staffing provision which is made directly by my Department to the health sector.

As considerations in relation to the forthcoming Budget 2016 are still ongoing, it would not be appropriate for me to comment in relation to such matters in advance of the Budget.