Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 September 2004
136 Mr. O’Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will make a statement on the refusal of her Department to grant an application for 13 extra co-operation hours to a school (details supplied) in County Louth. [23111/04]
View answerMy Department allocates additional teaching hours to VECs to support the delivery of education programmes in a range of facilities, including special schools. Such allocations are made under the heading of co-operation hours with other institutions. These allocations are made in response to specific applications which are submitted by the VECs in advance of the commencement of the school year to which they relate.
An application for increased hours in respect of the school referred to by the Deputy was received in my Department from County Louth VEC. Following consideration of this application it was considered that the existing allocation was adequate to cater for the needs of the school.
If the VEC is of the view that the level of needs within the school is such as to be incapable of being addressed from within its current allocation, my Department will be prepared to consider these concerns. Such consideration will require a clear demonstration of the inadequacy of the allocation by reference to the current utilisation of the school's available resources.
