Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

147. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide a breakdown, by county, of the number of special needs assistants employed in schools between 2016 to 2019, in tabular form; if she will provide a similar breakdown, by county, of the number of special needs assistants employed in schools between 2020 and to date in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25367/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise the following:

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government.

For 2023, the spend by my Department on special education will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education.

This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department’s total allocation for 2023.

This includes additional teaching and care supports. It also includes funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) for an additional 54 psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes.

In 2023 the number of teaching and special need assistant (SNA) posts in our schools will increase with an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 SNAs in our schools next year.

For the first time ever we will have over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and over 20,000 SNAs. Together we have almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

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.

When a school has been allocated an SNA, the Board of Management as the employer, is responsible for filling the vacancy. The decision on whether to employ a full-time SNA to fill a full-time post, or to employ an equivalent number of part-time SNAs rests with the employer.

My Department acts as paymaster to over 3,700 schools whose Boards of Management

are the direct employers of SNAs. SNAs employed within the Education and Training Board (ETB) sector are paid by the respective ETB.

Therefore the information requested in relation to the numbers of SNAs employed is not to hand, however, the NCSE publish statistics on SNA allocations for each school year, by county, in tabular form on their website. These details can be found at: www.ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations.