Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 February 2014
71. Deputy Heather Humphreys asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will examine a case (details supplied) in County Monaghan regarding an application for a special needs assistant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9737/14]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education supports and the staffing resources available to my Department. The NCSE allocates a quantum of SNA support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support. The deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
The NCSE has published details of all of their allocations for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2013/2014 school year on their website www.ncse.ie, which detail the allocations made for each school on a per county basis. Schools can contact the NCSE if they have enrolled children who were not considered at the time that the revised SNA allocations were made to schools, or where they are seeking a revision to the quantum of SNA support which has been allocated to them. In general, a revision to SNA allocations will only be made in circumstances where schools have enrolled new pupils, or where schools can demonstrate that they do not have sufficient SNA posts to cater for the care needs of all of the qualifying children in their school.
The NCSE will shortly be inviting schools to make applications for SNA support for the coming 2014/15 school year and will consider applications for support for new pupils enrolling to schools. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie. As the Deputy's question refers to an application for SNA support for an individual child, I have referred this question to the NCSE for their consideration and direct reply to the Deputy.
