Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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246. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the importance of home school liaison officers in schools when children have special needs; and his plans for same. [44625/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware a key priority for this Government is ensuring that children with special educational needs are supported and given the opportunity to reach their full potential.

This Government has significantly increased investment in special education in recent years. Funding for special education provision in 2018 will amount to some €1.75 billion, up 43% since 2011 and equivalent to 18.7% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training. Budget 2019 announced the funding of 950 additional SNA posts and 372 teaching posts to cater for the growth in student population and additional special classes.

The Deputy will also be aware that the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Scheme is a school-based intervention provided to DEIS schools to address the needs of all pupils/families at risk of educational disadvantage through acknowledging and developing the role of the parent as prime educator. The role of the HSCL Coordinator is to work primarily with the salient adults in the child’s life, in order to empower them, so that they can better support their children to attend school, participate in education and develop positive attitudes to life-long learning. Central to the HSCL initiative, is the identification of educational needs and the provision of a tailored and proportionate response to those needs, through a range of interventions, which are evidence-based, focused and structured.

The scheme is delivered by 416 full-time HSCL Coordinators who are teachers in these schools and assigned to HSCL duties either in individual schools or clusters of schools, catering for approximately 156,000 pupils.The current cost of this provision to my Department is €25 million. For DEIS schools included in the HSCL Scheme, it is a requirement that at least 10% of the annual DEIS Grant to each school should be allocated for use on HSCL activities and made available to the HSCL Coordinator. The total allocation for the DEIS grant from my Department is approximately €16 million. While the HSCL scheme is funded by my Department, Tusla the Child and Family Agency, which is the dedicated state agency responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children has responsibility for the management of the HSCL Scheme.

My Department has no plans at present to extend this Scheme beyond DEIS Schools.