Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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54. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he remains satisfied regarding the ability of his Department to meet the full requirements in respect of special needs teachers and special needs assistants at primary and second level; the steps being taken to address emerging needs in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16709/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Funding for special education provision in 2017 will amount to some €1.68 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 19% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training and represents an increase in spending in this area of 12% over the last two years.

This year, 13,015 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are available for allocation to primary and post primary schools to the end of the 2016/17 school year, which is an increase of almost 23% in the number of posts available since 2011. The demand for 2017/18 will not be known until the NCSE application process is complete.

There are currently over 12,500 learning support and resource teacher posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools. An additional 900 teaching posts have also been provided to support the introduction of the new model for allocating Special Education Teaching Resources to mainstream primary and post primary schools from September 2017.  

In addition, over 150 new Special Classes have been opened for the 2016/17 school year, which means there are now 1,152 special classes in place, compared to 548 special classes in 2011.

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

In recent years, the NCSE has provided my Department with a number of policy advice papers on the provision of supports for children with special needs, all of which are available on the NCSE’s website.  It is intended to bring into effect many improvements to the provision of special educational needs support, through policy developments across a range of areas, in conjunction with NCSE policy advice.

As committed to in the Programme for a Partnership Government, the adequacy of the present policies and provision and their scope for improvement is being examined. The NCSE are currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the SNA Scheme to ensure better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Following its pilot, the new model for allocating special needs teachers has been introduced in schools.

I can confirm that this Government will continue to ensure that the supports required, to ensure that all children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education, will be provided.