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Special Educational Needs.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004

Wednesday, 29 September 2004

Questions (418)

Olwyn Enright

Question:

598 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person (details supplied) in County Dublin attending Booterstown national school, Cross Avenue, Blackrock, has not been granted a special needs assistant from 12.40 p.m. to 2.10 p.m. while present in school despite the fact that a special needs assistant was approved from 8.50 a.m. until 12.40 p.m; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22813/04]

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Written answers

An application for the upgrade from 23.3 hours per week to full-time special needs assistant, SNA, support has been received from Booterstown NS for the pupil referred to by the Deputy.

It has been my intention for some time to carry out a review of the deployment of SNAs in schools. I accept the view expressed by schools that any such review should have regard to the actual situation on the ground. Accordingly, I have decided that the review should involve a visit to each school which has SNA support. Arrangements are being made to implement this review at an early date and a further communication will issue to schools in this regard.

Decisions regarding the appropriate level of SNA support in individual schools will be based on the outcome of this review. Pending notification of the outcome, schools which have been advised by the Department that they have surplus SNA capacity, or which themselves consider that they have such a surplus, may retain the excess up to the level of applications made to the Department for which a response is awaited.

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