Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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422. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding recent decisions not to allocate SNA support in 46 out of 47 applications made by schools in an area (details supplied). [37873/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The provision of education for children with special needs is an ongoing priority for Government.  The numbers of special classes, special education teachers and Special Needs Assistants are at unprecedented levels.

My Department will spend approximately €2 Billion, or over 20% of its total educational budget on making additional provision for children with special educational needs in 2021. This represents an increase of over 50% in total expenditure since 2011, at which point €1.247 Billion per annum was provided. Following Budget 2021, it is expected that a total of 18,000 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts will have been allocated to primary, post primary and special schools by the end of this year. This will represent an increase of increase of 70% in the number of SNAs provided since 2011 at which point 10,575 SNAs were available.

The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews. The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations. Accordingly your question has been forwarded to the NCSE for direct reply.

The NCSE publish statistics on SNA allocations to primary, post primary and special schools in tabular form, by county, for each school year, this information is available on their website, . The NCSE manages the exceptional review process and handles each case individually. Some review requests can be concluded as an office based exercise, whilst others require a school to be visited. The timeframe for concluding a review can vary depending on the school context or the nature of the information provided.

The NCSE have advised that a significant number of schools were notified of incomplete applications due to the omission of required information on the online application form. In order to assist schools with this, the NCSE are currently developing a webinar to support schools who may be considering submitting an application.

Schools now considering appeal, or re-application where there is new information, are advised to contact their local SENO should they need assistance with the application process. Contact details can be found on the NCSE website at ncse.ie/regional-services-contact-list.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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423. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the consideration she has for mainstream schools with special classes managed by teaching principals (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37886/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Special class provision in mainstream primary and post primary schools is a central element of the continuum of education provision in place to support children with special educational needs.  This continuum extends from full time placement in mainstream classes and special classes through to full time enrolment in special schools with a number of options in between. 

My Department supports this continuum through a range of dedicated supports in line with the needs of the child.   These supports include the provision of teachers, special needs assistants and psychological support from the National Psychological Service.  In addition, there are specialist supports provided by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) including extensive professional development programmes for principals and teachers and advice for schools, parents and families. 

The overall aim of the continuum is to ensure that every child is supported in the journey of realising their potential through education in an inclusive and caring school environment.

I am keenly aware of the huge contribution made by all Principals, including teaching Principals, in supporting this continuum.

The criteria for the allocation of an administrative principal is set out in Appendix B of the staffing schedule.  For the 2021/22 school year, the enrolment required for the appointment of an administrative principal is 175, 142 and 115 in ordinary schools, DEIS Band 2 schools and DEIS Band 1 schools respectively.  Where schools are operating 2 or more Autism Special Classes, the required enrolment for the allocation of an administrative principal is reduced to 112 for ordinary and DEIS Band 2 schools and 80 in DEIS Band 1 schools.

There are no plans to change these arrangements at this time. 

As part of the additional funding to schools this year, €10.2m has been allocated specifically to support Principals and Deputy Principals who undertake teaching duties in primary schools.  This funding provides each teaching principal with a minimum of one release day per week, and release days for Deputy Principals in those schools that have an existing administrative principal for this school year.  More than 1,700 primary schools with teaching principals have benefitted from the increase in release days. 

Teaching Principals in schools with special classes are allocated a further 4 release days, in addition to the 37 allocated to each school with a teaching principal.

There are arrangements in place for schools to cluster their principal release days into a full-time post which will assist teaching principals to more effectively plan their release days for the benefit of the school. 

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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424. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address the concerns raised in correspondence by a person (details supplied) regarding July provision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37893/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In May 2021 the Government announced a package of supports to allow primary and post primary schools to offer a summer programme for students with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a COVID-19 pandemic response measure for summer 2021. 

The total funding available to provide summer programmes this year is up to €40 million, a one hundred per cent increase on the allocation for summer programmes in 2020.

This range of programmes on offer builds on the success of the expanded programmes that ran last year and incorporates feedback from education stakeholders as to how to better support the programme for all involved in summer 2021.

Enhanced measures have been put in place to encourage participation of schools in this process, including reducing the administrative process, provision of funding to schools towards preparation and overseeing of the programmes, earlier payment of school staff and provision to recruit final year student teachers graduating this summer. In particular, the Department has put in place procedures to issue prompt payments for staff undertaking summer provision and as claims are received they will be processed and paid as quickly as possible.  A dedicated helpline and email address has been available to schools since the launch of the summer programme.

Schools are permitted to employ teachers and/or SNAs from outside of their school if the staff normally employed by the school are not available for any/all of the summer programme

The Teaching Council and Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) are promoting the summer programmes with this year’s graduate teachers and Professional Masters of Education (PME) students to increase the supply of available teachers this summer. To help teachers and SNAs identify summer programme vacancies in schools, the IPPN has created a Summer Provision Noticeboard at

Graduate teachers and PME students who have commenced their registration process with the Teaching Council are permitted to work on the summer programme where they have commenced

their registration process, have been vetted and will be in receipt of their Teaching Council number by 08 October 2021.  Graduate teachers and PME students are also permitted to participate on the home-based summer programme, subject to the same conditions.

Department officials have met with advocacy groups and parents, school managerial authorities and staff representatives who have welcomed the additional resources and supports. The Department will continue to work with stakeholders to support parents in accessing summer provision and with schools to ensure that they have the resources and supports necessary to successfully run these programmes

In line with policy advice received from the NCSE, a review of the July Provision programme was commenced in 2019. This review process was paused due to the impact of COVID, during which the summer education programme was significantly enhanced and expanded to take account of the effect of school closures.  The review of the programme will recommence at the earliest possible stage.