Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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128. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if SNA hours will be restored to 2017 allocation in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if SNA hours for another person transferring to this school will be allocated to ensure that the school can maintain its SNA. [30394/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are provided to assist recognised schools to cater for pupils with disabilities, who have additional and significant care needs, in an educational context and where the nature of these care needs have been outlined in medical and other professional reports as being so significant that a pupil will require additional adult assistance in order to be able to attend school and to participate in education. 

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. 

The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014, which is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie, in order that students who have care needs can access SNA support as and when it is needed.  My Department’s policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support. 

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools, as a school based resource. The level of SNA support allocated to schools can change from year to year, as students with care needs leave the school, as new students with care needs enrol, or as students develop more independent living skills as they get older and their care needs diminish over time.

All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2017/18 school year by 6th April 2017. The NCSE continues to process applications for access to SNA support which are received after the April deadline. Such applications will be processed in the order in which the applications are received.  Schools will be advised shortly of their SNA allocations for the 2017/18 school year.

Where a school wishes to appeal the SNA support allocation which has been made to them, they may do so through the NCSE appeal process, details of which are set out at www.ncse.ie.

All schools have the contact details of their local SENO and parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.