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

273. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will confirm with reference to the newly established Irish sign language supports, how many in-class support vacancies have been advertised; how many posts have been filled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25688/23]

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.

The Department of Education has long provided a range of supports for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, either in mainstream classes, 24 special classes or through the 2 established schools for Deaf children.

The Irish Sign Language (ISL) Tuition Scheme provides funding for a weekly tuition service. Tutors visit the home of a deaf or hard of hearing pre-school child or school-going pupil to provide training in ISL for the child, their siblings, their grandparent(s) and parents or guardian.

There is longstanding existing provision in place, which provides a dedicated special needs assistant with ISL competency to support students in mainstream settings access to the curriculum and engage in school activities.

On 14th November 2022 a new enhanced scheme of ISL provision was announced.

A national advertising campaign commenced in January 2023, by the NCSE, to recruited for the role of ISL-SCS on a nationwide basis. This campaign is currently at interview stage, following which a panel will be created and the ISL SCS will be assigned to individual students who meet the criteria for phase 1 of the new scheme