Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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172. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of special needs places available at primary and second level schools throughout north Kildare; the extent to which further improvements are required in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10742/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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173. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which adequate school places are available at primary and second level for children with autism throughout the various schools in north Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10743/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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174. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which adequate SNAs are available throughout the primary and second level schools in north Kildare; the extent to which it is expected to address specific deficiencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10744/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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175. 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. [10745/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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177. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the degree to which children with autism continue to have ready access to primary and second level school places throughout the country with particular reference to County Kildare; the extent to which any difficulties have arisen in meeting the ongoing requirements in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10747/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 to 175, inclusive, and 177 together.

Funding for special education provision in 2017 will amount to some €1.68 billion, which is equivalent to over 19% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training and an increase of 12% 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 full participation 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.

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

As part the Budget announcements, I announced that an additional 115 SNA posts at an annual cost of €3.75m will be provided for allocation from January to June 2017, bringing the total number of SNAs available for allocation to schools to 13,015 to the end of 2017, which represents an increase of 23% over the numbers allocated in 2011. This is a higher level of SNA support than ever before, which ensures that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs.

There are currently over 12,500 learning support and Resource Teacher posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools of which 7430 are Resource Teaching posts; 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. 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. I announced that an additional €18 million will be provided 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, the aim of which is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs.

Large amounts of research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and piloting have gone in to the development of this model and all the evidence points to the fact that this new system will deliver better outcomes for children.

Under the new allocation model schools will be provided with a total allocation which includes a baseline allocation for the school and an allocation based on the school profile. The provision of a profiled allocation will give a fairer allocation for each school which recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but which provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the actual level of need and pupils in each school. A new Circular will be issued to schools in the coming weeks which will provide details of how the scheme will operate while details of the allocations for each school will also be provided to 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 relation to opening special classes where there is an identified need for special class provision. Progress in developing the network of Special Classes has been significant; approximately 150 new Special Classes were sanctioned for the 2016/17 school year which means there are currently 1,153 special classes in place, compared to 548 special classes in 2011. There are currently 889 ASD Special Classes which offer a supportive learning environment to students with ASD who are unable to access the curriculum in a mainstream class, even with support, for most or all of their school day.

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

With regard to Kildare in particular, there are 942 students with ASD attending schools in the County, 520 of those attend mainstream schools and are accessing in-school supports including Resource teaching and SNA support, 322 students are attending 59 ASD special classes consisting of 6 early intervention classes, 41 primary ASD classes and 12 post primary ASD classes, while a further 100 students with ASD are placed in 4 special schools.

The NCSE has indicated that it is currently satisfied that there will be sufficient ASD special class placements available to meet demand in the region for the forthcoming school year

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