Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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334. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that have appealed their SNA allocation by county in 2021 and 2022, in tabular form. [12641/22]

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.

The State currently spends in excess of 25% of its annual education and training budget (€9.2 Billion) on making additional provision for children with special educational needs.

This represents an increase of over 60% in total expenditure since 2011, at which point €1.247 Billion per annum was provided.

Budget 2021 provided an additional 990 Special Needs Assistants. This resulted in 18,004 SNAs having been allocated to schools by 31st December 2021.

Budget 2022 provides funding for an additional 1,165 SNAs (in 2022) to provide support to children with special educational needs, which will bring the total number of SNAs to 19,169 at the end of December 2022. 

Provision for 19,169 SNAs as at 31st December 2022 will represent an increase of 81% since 2011 at which time 10,575 were provided.

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.

The NCSE publishes statistics on SNA allocations to primary, post primary and special schools in tabular form, by county and by school, for each school year, this information is available on its website, www.ncse.ie.

Where circumstances change during the course of the 2021/22 school year that materially increase the level of care need in a school to the extent that the school can clearly demonstrate that it cannot be met within the existing SNA allocation, the school may apply to the NCSE for a review.  Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website ncse.ie/for-schools.

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 in order to observe the current deployment of SNA support in the school setting.

The timeframe for concluding a review can vary depending on the school context or the nature of the information provided. The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.

As this question relates to the statistics on the number of schools that have appealed their SNA allocation, I have referred the question to the NCSE for its direct reply. 

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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335. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that have appealed their special education teaching allocation by county in 2021 and 2022, in tabular form. [12642/22]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The appeals process for the Special Education Teaching allocations is dealt with by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), therefore I have referred your query to the NCSE for direct reply.