Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 July 2015
204. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason schools have not been informed of their special needs assistant allocation for September 2015 in advance of the school holidays; if she is aware of the disruption which this causes in school planning and anxiety to parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26773/15]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that 11,330 whole time equivalent Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts have been made available to the NCSE to allocate to schools to the end of the current school year.
This is the highest number of SNAs that we have ever had and it has ensured that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs.
This year, the NCSE requested all schools to submit applications for SNA support by mid March 2015. Following this deadline each application had to be assessed by the NCSE before they were in a position to advise the Minister on the quantum of SNAs that would need to be allocated to schools for the coming school year.
The final advice on this was received on 18th June last and the Minister will be seeking to confirm allocations to schools over the next ten days. Details of SNA allocations to schools for 2015/16 will be available on the NCSE website on completion of this process.
