Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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774. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she appreciates the practical difficulties which arise when the number of hours required by pupils for special needs assistant support is greater than the number of hours allocated to a school, and that the sharing of hours by one special needs assistant between children who are often in different classes can prove counterproductive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46872/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated to schools to assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs.

The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support, which is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.

The deployment of SNAs within schools, once allocated, is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. 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.

Details of the manner in which a school or parent may appeal the level of SNA or resource teaching allocation which has been made to support a child in school, to the NCSE, is set out at www.ncse.ie.

All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, while 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.