Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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290. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the €29 million allocated to special needs as outlined in budget 2018; the amount of the allocation that has been spent; the way in which the funds were spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24298/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The allocation referred to by the Deputy is the increase in funding for the Special Needs Assistant (SNA) Scheme in 2018.

My Department’s policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support. I secured an additional €30 million in Budget 2018 to fund the continued development of the SNA scheme with some 1,010 additional SNA posts being provided for from that funding.

The first tranche, 70 posts, were made available for allocation for the period January to June 2018. I announced last month that a further 800 SNA posts have been made available for allocation for September 2018 with an additional 140 posts expected to be allocated by the end of the year.

The Government now invests €524 million in SNAs annually, as part of a total €1.75 billion investment in special educational needs overall. There will be a total of 15,000 SNAs working in our schools, supporting over 36,000 pupils, by the end of this year.

This increased investment reflects the priority which the Government has put on helping children with special educational needs to fulfil their potential. It also reflects the growing participation of children with special educational needs in the education system and the capacity of our education system to better support their full participation and progression.

Information on the amount of the financial allocation that has been spent will not be available until the end of the current financial year.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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291. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the €5.5 million allocated to special education teaching posts as outlined in budget 2018; the amount of the allocation that has been spent; the way in which the funds were spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24299/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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In 2018, in the region of €1.75 billion will be invested in Special Education, nearly one fifth of the overall Education budget, and up 43% since 2011.

This funding includes provision for up to 13,400 Special Education Teaching posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools, providing additional teaching support to pupils with special educational needs, and over 1,440 special classes, with over 140 new Special Classes to open for the 2018/19 school year. This compares to 548 special classes in 2011. Almost 1400 teachers are also allocated to special schools.

An additional 900 teaching posts have been provided in the 2017/2018 school year to support the introduction of this new allocation model. The provision of an additional 900 teaching posts is a very significant investment in the provision of additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs in our schools.

For the 2017/18 school year to date, 13,306 additional special education teaching posts have been allocated, of which 13,281 have been allocated to schools, with 25 posts having been allocated to the NCSE to develop support services for schools.

Allocations continue to be made to schools, where exceptional circumstances arise, in accordance with the review criteria set at www.ncse.ie .

The actual expenditure on special education teaching posts in 2018 will not be known until financial reporting has been completed at the end of 2018.