I propose to take Questions Nos. 392 and 411 together.
Since my appointment as Minister for Education and Science, I have attached a clear priority to the development of support services for children with special educational needs in the primary system.
I consider that my commitment in this regard is clearly demonstrated by my decision to extend the remedial teacher service to every primary school in the country with effect from September next. A total of 225 additional teacher posts are being made available to support this development and also to facilitate the extension of the home-school-community liaison scheme to all primary schools which are designated as disadvantaged.
As a result of the new resources being provided by this Government, Tavneena national school will be among the schools which will receive a remedial service from September next.
I also recently announced a major new initiative under which all children assessed as having special education needs arising from a disability will henceforth be entitled to an automatic response to those needs. The response may take the form of resource teacher support or child care support, or both, depending on the needs of each individual child. Already under this new initiative, my Department has allocated an additional 33 resource teacher posts and 156 child care assistant posts to support special needs children in the primary system.
I am satisfied that the measures which I have taken will ensure that all primary school children who require remedial or resource teacher support will receive the necessary assistance to enable them to gain maximum benefit from their participation in the education system.
