Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Firstly, I can confirm for the Deputy that schools with special classes in a start-up situation are targeted for specific support.  Care is taken in the planning of special education provision and the requisite specialist training and support.  

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) provide a range of supports including seminars for Principals, training courses for new and existing teachers, whole-staff CPD and access to the NCSE's Advisory Support Service.

The schools referenced by the Deputy should contact their local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO) in this regard.

While the NCSE provide the relevant sanction to facilitate the recruitment of the teachers and SNAs for each special class, the school's managerial authority, as the employer, is responsible for the individual recruitment arrangements.

Guidelines on the establishment of Special Classes are available on the NCSE website at the following link Special Class Guidelines – National Council for Special Education (ncse.ie).

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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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 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs.  Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource as such the SNAs allocated to the pupils in their respective primary schools will not transfer with the pupils to secondary school.

The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school.  SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. 

It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised. 

SNA support is allocated to special classes and special schools by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The NCSE have published the SNA allocations on their website www.ncse.ie. 

Under the allocation model for special classes and special schools, the SNA allocation can change from year to year as children with care needs leave the school, as new children with care needs enrol in a school and as children develop more independent living skills and their care needs diminish over time. There is a prescribed special class to SNA ratio.

ASD special classes have an allocation of 1 teacher and 2 SNA posts to cater for the educational and care needs of 6 students.

Additional SNA support may also be sanctioned by the NCSE where there are individual children who have significant care needs which require support above the level of support already sanctioned to the school. In such circumstances, the school may apply to the NCSE for access to additional care supports, clearly outlining the reason why the additional support is necessary.

Detailed information on the NCSE Exceptional Review process is published on the NCSE website. ncse.ie/application-for-sna-exceptional-review.

My Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations and the school should liaise with the NCSE directly in the event that additional supports are required.