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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 2 Dec 1998

Vol. 497 No. 6

Written Answers - School Staffing.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

84 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of outstanding requests received in his Department in respect of remedial or resource teachers; the plans, if any, he has to respond to these requests within 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25797/98]

My Department currently has approximately 1,120 applications on hand from national schools seeking either a remedial or resource teacher service or an improvement in an existing service. I recently allocated 60 additional remedial teacher posts to national schools with effect from September, 1998. There are now 1,302 remedial teachers in the primary sector. I am currently examining the scope for further development in this area, in keeping with my objective of ensuring that a remedial service is made available to every national school in the country. Resource teachers are deployed to assist ordinary teaching staff in addressing the needs of children with disabilities in integrated school settings. I recently allocated 26 additional resource teacher posts with effect from September 1998. There are now 104 resource teachers in place in the primary sector.

I recently announced a major new initiative in the special education area under which all children assessed as having special educational needs will be entitled to an automatic response to those needs. The response may take the form of full or part-time teaching or child care support, or both, depending on the number of children involved and their special needs. In the context of this new development, my Department is currently considering all applications on hand for resource teacher support. I expect that allocations of such support will commence in the near future and continue through 1999.

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