Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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123. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which the full requirement in respect of special needs school places has been met in County Kildare; the number of such places still outstanding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35490/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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126. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which his Department continues to monitor the special needs teaching requirements in terms of teachers and SNAs at primary and second level in all schools throughout the country; the extent to which he expects to be in a position to meet the increased demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35493/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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131. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which his Department continues to monitor the special needs teaching requirements in terms of teachers and SNAs at primary and second level in all schools throughout County Kildare; the extent to which he expects to be in position to meet the increased demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35498/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 123, 126 and 131 together.

Funding for special education provision in 2016 will amount to some €1.5 billion, which is equivalent to over 17% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training and an increase of 10% in spending in the past two years.

This funding provides for a range of supports and services including additional learning and resource teaching support, access to Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support, special transport arrangements, building adaptations, enhanced capitation in special schools and special classes, specialised equipment, additional teacher training and the services of the National Educational Psychological Service.

Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated to mainstream Primary, Post Primary schools and to Special 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), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for Special Educational Needs supports.

The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014. This year, 12,900 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are available for allocation to schools, to the end of 2016, which represents an increase of 23% over the numbers allocated in 2011.

There are currently over 12,400 learning support and Resource Teacher posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools. 

The NCSE has allocated 7430 resource teacher posts to schools for the 2016/17 school year. This represents an increase of 41% in the number of resource teachers which have been allocated since the 2011/12 school year, at which point 5265 posts were allocated.

The NCSE has published details of the SNA and Resource Teaching Posts allocated to schools, including schools in County Kildare, for the current school year, 2016/2017, on its website .

In addition, over 5000 learning support posts have been allocated to schools under the General Allocation Model for primary schools and Learning Support allocations for post primary schools.

The NCSE, in consultation with the relevant education partners, also has responsibility for the establishment of special classes in various geographical areas, as required. The NCSE continues to engage with schools in opening special classes where there is an identified need for special class provision.

Approximately 150 new Special Classes will be opened for the 2016/17 school year, which means there will be over 1,150 special classes in place, compared to 548 special classes in 2011.

125 special schools also provide specialist education for those pupils who need it.

As part of the recent Budget announcements, an additional 115 SNA posts at an annual cost of €3.75 million will be provided for allocation from January to June 2017 and an additional €18 million in 2017 to provide for around 900 additional resource teacher posts.

I also announced that following development and piloting over the past number of years, a new model for the allocation of teaching resources for children with special educational needs will be implemented from September 2017.  Further details regarding implementation of the new model will be announced in the coming months.

The combination of supports provided means that school places are available for all children with special educational needs, including in County Kildare, regardless of their level of need.