Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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238. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if savings will be made by his Department by the introduction of the new resource allocation model for special educational needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37588/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has a statutory role under the Education of Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 to provide me with policy advice in relation to matters concerning the education of persons with special educational needs.

The NCSE identified that the current model for allocating resource teachers to schools is potentially inequitable, because access to the range of professional assessments required for the diagnosis of low incident disabilities is not always readily available to those who cannot afford to access them privately. The NCSE has also advised that the current model can lead to unnecessary labelling of children from a young age.

The NCSE has proposed a new resource teaching allocation model which will, when introduced, remove the formal requirement for diagnostic assessment to access additional support and which will provide resources to schools based on school profiles.

As part the recent Budget announcements, I 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.

An additional €18 million will be provided in 2017 to provide for around 900 resource teacher posts to support the introduction of this model.

Savings will therefore not be made by my Department by the introduction of the new resource teaching allocation model. Rather, additional provision is being made to support the introduction of the model, which is aimed at improving outcomes for the students involved. The total number of resource teachers which will be provided will be known when the school profiling exercise has been completed.

Further details regarding implementation of the new model will be announced in the coming months.