I welcome the Minister to the House and apologise that he has to take this matter this evening — my request on behalf of St. Joseph's senior boys' school in Clondalkin for the re-employment of a resource teacher taken from the school in 1993-4. The school believes the projected enrolment figures warrants the reinstatment of the post in the Department's schedule of appointments for the school.
The specialised provision was originally introduced on an experimental basis in the school year 1992-3 and was organised in the best tradition of the "bottom up" initiative. Over the years, it has evolved into a well-structured, enriching and integral element of the school's development. Unfortunately, due to fluctuations in enrolments, one of the permanent teachers is due to go back on the panel. As a result, the resource teacher will be obliged to return to full time classroom duties.
I am aware the Minister is conscious of the need for more resource teachers throughout the education system and the vital role they play, particularly in modern urban areas where deprivation can have brutal consequences on primary education. The resource teacher programme which has been in place has three component parts. First, a successful remedial programme has been put in place to ensure that children falling behind in basic skills such as numeracy and literacy are given special attention through the resource teacher. Second, the school has innovatively developed a whole school support unit through the resource teacher, where children who have severe psychological difficulties and their parents can work with teachers and school management to overcome the problem. Finally, the school had successfully established a counselling service.
A presentation has been submitted to the Department by the school, and it is one of the most detailed I have ever read. I look forward to a positive response from the Department of Education. The number of schools who are looking for this service throughout the schools system is obviously more than the number of teachers we can afford to supply. This is a difficult area and many of the negative images of urban Dublin we have seen on our television sets and heard on our radios over the past week would cease if more specific resources were put into schools of this nature.