Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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164. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will request the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and Special Educational Needs Organisers, SENO, to reassess the SNA support at a school (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47879/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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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 operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.

In considering applications for SNA supports for individual pupils, the SENOs take account of the pupils' needs and consider the resources available to the school to identify whether additionality is needed or whether the school might reasonably be expected to meet the needs of the pupils from its current level of resources. SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource.

All schools have been advised of their allocations for SNA support for the 2017/18 school year. Details of SNA allocations which have been made to schools have been published by the NCSE on their website at.

Where a school has received its allocation of SNA support for 2017/18, but wishes new enrolments or assessments to be considered, which were not taken into account when the initial allocation was made, they may continue to make applications to the NCSE.

The NCSE Appeals Process may be invoked in the following instances:

- a parent or a school where it is considered that a child was not granted access to SNA support on the grounds that Department policy was not met in accordance with Circular 0030/2014.

- a school may also appeal a decision, where the school considers that the NCSE, in applying Department policy, has not allocated the appropriate level of SNA supports to the school to meet the special educational and/or care needs of the child(ren) concerned.

The provisions of Section 14 of SNA Circular 0030/2014 require that SNA allocations, which are made from September 2014, will be time bound; linked to the provision of a personal pupil plan; will be made initially for a maximum period of three years; will be subject to annual review, and will be subject to a full reassessment of their care needs at the end of the three year period.

The NCSE have developed a review process which will give effect to the provisions of the circular and which will review all SNA allocations in accordance with these provisions. This review process will commence in the coming weeks. 

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 at .

As the matter raised in this question refers to an individual child, I have arranged for the NCSE to reply directly to the Deputy.