Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 November 2011
18 Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24 who after winning an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998, for additional special needs assistant support in July, is still waiting for the increase in SNA classroom hours to be implemented; the number of similar cases there are in which children who have won their appeal are still awaiting the agreed supports. [34851/11]
View answerSection 29 of the Education Act provides for an appeal to be taken against a refusal to enrol a child in a recognised school, however, such appeals do not consider the level of supports or resources applying to schools.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools. A Section 29 appeal for this child, who was partially enrolled, was upheld in July of this year. The NCSE was requested by the school to reconsider the allocation of SNA support which had been made for this child with a view to increasing the allocation. This request was made subsequent to the school having been advised of its SNA allocation for the coming school year, which is 7.74 SNA posts.
A decision in respect of the application for increased SNA support for the school concerned, to take into account this child's increased attendance, is expected shortly. As the child is not attending school on a full-time basis the NCSE will prioritise this application. In the interim the school should be in a position to provide for the child's care needs from their existing level of SNA support, pending the outcome of this application.
