Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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383. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the average timeframe between the special needs’ assistant exceptional reviews taking place in primary schools and the review outcomes being communicated to these schools in writing for the 2021-2022 school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49592/22]

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 school can apply to the NCSE for a review of its SNA allocation if it is insufficient to meet the needs of its students. Detailed information on the NCSE Exceptional Review process is published on the NCSE website. ncse.ie/application-for-sna-exceptional-review.

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.

As this question relates to the statistics on the review process carried out by the NCSE, I have referred the question to the NCSE for their direct reply.