Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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47. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to review the situation whereby a school that applies for hours under the special needs assistant scheme is not informed until August of that year, which happened in 2015, leaving schools and families unaware of the situation until when the children are due to return to school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18279/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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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 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.

The Deputy will be aware that last week I announced that 860 additional SNAs will be available for allocation to schools from September 2016.

12,900 SNA posts will now be available. This is more SNAs than we have ever had previously and will ensure that all children who qualify for SNA support can continue to receive access to such support.

In total, the number of SNAs available has increased by almost 22% since 2011, at which point 10,575 posts were available.

The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to schools is set out in my Departments Circular, DES 30/2014, which states that a key feature of the NCSE allocation process is to provide an annual allocation of SNA support to eligible schools.

The NCSE issues notification to schools each year requesting they submit applications for SNA support to the NCSE for the coming school year. Having considered all of the applications received, the NCSE advises schools of their SNA allocation quantum for the coming school year, taking into account the number of valid applications received and the assessed care needs of the children concerned.

This year, the NCSE asked all schools to submit applications for SNA support by 29th February, 2016.

The NCSE advised all schools of their allocations for SNA support for the 2016/17 school year, on 14th June, 2016, based on the number of valid applications received.

The provision of allocations in June ensures that schools have sufficient time to plan for the provision of supports in advance of September 2016. It also gives schools certainty as to the resources which will be available to them for the coming school year.

Whereas the NCSE will continue to consider applications throughout the school year, in cases where schools have enrolled new pupils with care needs, where new assessments are received, or in cases of emergencies, the main allocation of SNA support is now made to schools on an annual allocation basis and most schools will by now have received their SNA allocations for September 2016.

Details of the allocations for SNA support made to schools is available at www.ncse.ie.