Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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683. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of a matter (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58156/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for children with special educational needs.

Special needs assistant (SNAs) are responsible for meeting the primary care needs of students with special educational needs. Principals/board of managements deploy this school-based resource to meet the care support requirements of the students enrolled whom SNA support has been allocated. This ensures schools remain able to provide flexible arrangements in how the SNA support is utilised on a day-to-day basis.? The NCSE advise my department that the school referred to has a current SNA post allocation of 5.83.

If a school feels like it has insufficient SNA support to meet the needs of its students an application can be submitted to the NCSE requesting a review of its allocation. Detailed information on the NCSE's SNA review process is published on the NCSE's website ncse.ie/sna-review-mainstream. Each case is individually assessed and is based on the student profile of each school.

Following the outcome of the review, the NCSE can make a local special educational needs organiser (SENO) available to the school to discuss their current deployment of SNA supports in the school and to put these supports to the best advantage of the students. The NCSE in-school support service is also available to schools to offer further guidance and support.

Parents can also contact the NCSE directly using the details available on the NCSE's website . Local special educational needs organisers (SENOs) are available to offer advice, support and guidance as required to ensure students with special educational needs are supported to achieve their full potential.