Vol. 534 No. 4
226 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science if all the applications for special needs assistants have been approved by his Department for schools in Kildare; if his Department is encountering difficulties in obtaining such personnel; the plans he has to develop this valuable service by means of training seminars and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10948/01]
To date my Department has allocated a total of 106 special needs assistants to schools in County Kildare. I understand that recent applications for a further six such posts are currently being processed by my Department.
Apart from the general problem of securing suitable staff which is a feature of many sectors of the economy at present, I am not aware that schools are encountering any particular difficulty in filling their special needs assistant posts.
The training requirements of special needs assistants are being addressed in the context of general training requirements in the special needs area. Schools may apply for funding for special needs assistants to attend relevant training programmes which are usually organised on a local basis.
