Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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528. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the full-year additional cost of removing the cap on the number of special needs assistants. [40327/15]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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529. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the full-year additional cost of removing the cap on resource teachers. [40328/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 528 and 529 together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that 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.

The investment which is being made to support children with special educational needs is an area of spending which has been prioritised above most other areas by this Government.

We now have a higher level of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support and Resource Teaching allocations than ever before, which will ensure that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs.

I recently announced that an additional 610 Special Needs Assistant posts are being provided for this year. This will ensure that every child with an assessed need has access to SNA support, in keeping with the Government's commitment in this regard.

I also announced provision for an additional 480 Resource Teachers, to take into account increased demand and demographic growth and to ensure that children can continue to have access to additional supports in school.

It is therefore clear that there has been a very significant increase in the overall allocations to schools in recent years.

The number of SNA or resource teaching posts which may be allocated to schools by the NCSE has increased in recent years to take account of increased demand.

The number of SNA posts which may be allocated to schools increased from 10,575 in 2013 to 11,940 posts at September 2015, which represents an increase in provision of approximately 13% over this period.

The cap on the number of resource teaching posts which may be allocated to schools by the NCSE also increased from 5265 posts in 2013 to 6705 posts, as at September 2015, which represents an increase in provision of 27% over this period.

These annual increases have taken into account demographic growth and increased demand for special educational services in recent years, including for the current school year.

The additional full year cost of removing, or amending, the current caps on the number of special needs assistants and resource teachers for future years will be dependent on the increased demand for provision, if any, in that particular year, and any consequent cap adjustment required.