Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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125. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students in receipt of the home tuition grant in the Dublin 15 area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50753/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme is to provide a compensatory educational service for

(a) Early educational intervention for children with autism who meet the scheme's eligibility criteria

(b) Students with special educational needs seeking an educational placement in a recognized school

(c) Students enrolled in schools, with a significant medical condition which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance.

The preferred approach is that children are educated in school settings where children may have access to fully qualified teachers, individualised education programmes, special needs assistants, school curriculum with the option, where possible and appropriate, of full or partial integration and interaction with other pupils. Accordingly, Home Tuition is provided as an interim measure only for children for whom a placement in a recognised school is not available and should not be regarded as an optional alternative to a school placement.

Approximately 56 children, in the area referred to by the Deputy, were sanctioned Home Tuition for the 2017/2018 school under the above strands of the scheme.

Details of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme are available on the Department's website at .