Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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169. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the timeframe for the establishment of the inclusion support service; the remaining steps to be taken to complete the establishment of the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29734/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that a new Inclusion Support Service within the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is currently being established in order to assist schools in supporting children with special education needs.

The service will include the Special Education Support Service (SESS), the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS) and the Visiting Teacher Service for children who are deaf/hard of hearing and for children who are blind/visually impaired (VTHVI service).

This change will mean that schools will receive a better and more integrated service from this new Inclusion Support Service.

I can advise that work is ongoing to transfer these services to the NCSE, which includes the development of necessary management and administrative structures within the NCSE to support the new service.

It is intended that the Inclusion Support Service will be operational from 2017. It is also intended, however, that the existing services will continue as normal, as the new arrangements are put in place, with as little disruption as possible to service users, as progress is made to transfer these services to the NCSE, pending the development of the new service.