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School Staffing.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2004

Tuesday, 2 November 2004

Questions (377)

Mary Wallace

Question:

450 Ms M. Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Science if she provided full-time special needs assistant hours to a person (details supplied) with autism spectrum disorder when they commenced school in September 2002 but has not increased the hours now that they have entered first class in September 2004; her views on whether a child allocated full-time special needs assistant hours should be covered for the full school day; if her Department has received correspondence dated 8 October 2004 expressing concern regarding the 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. period not being covered; if, now that this person is at school for an additional hour each day, the full-time special needs assistant approved will be 27.5 hours as distinct from the 22.5 hours when they were in the infant classes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26883/04]

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Written answers

An application for an increase in the level of special needs assistant, SNA, support from part time to full time has been received from the school referred to by the Deputy. The Deputy may be aware that my Department has established a team to review SNA support in mainstream schools generally. The team commenced its task recently. The team is assessing the levels and deployment of such support to ensure that the needs of children are being met in the context of new applications for resources for the school. The review team visited the school in recent days and a report is in preparation. A decision on the application will be conveyed to the school as soon as this report has been received and considered.

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