Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 1990

Vol. 394 No. 8

Written Answers. - Hearing-Impaired Children.

John Bruton

Question:

403 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education the number of pre-school hearing-impaired children under the care of the visiting teacher service; the number of hearing-impaired pupils in full-time education who are main-streamed in (a) national schools, (b) second level schools and (c) third level institutions; and the number of pupils in special schools for the hearing impaired.

Minister for Education (Mrs. O'Rourke)

There are 127 pre-school hearing-impaired children under the care of the visiting teacher service.

There are approximately 620 pupils in special schools for the hearing-impaired. In addition, there are around 240 hearing-impaired pupils who also suffer from additional handicaps, attending other categories of special schools. There are also approximately 40 pupils attending special classes for hearing impairment. These classes are attached to ordinary national schools.

No official count of the number of hearing-impaired children in mainstream education has been undertaken by my Department but it is tentatively estimated that there are approximately 600 such children attending at primary level and around 275 at second level.

Information on the number of hearing-impaired students in third level institutions is not readily available.