Written Answers Nos. 154-159
154. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if any of his officials raised the case of a person (details supplied) with the Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Sameh Hassan Shoukry, or with Mr Shoukry's officials, who participated in the Valetta Summit on migration in Malta on 11 and 12 November 2015. [40830/15]
View answerI can confirm that Minister Fitzgerald raised the case with the Egyptian Foreign Minister at the Valletta Summit on Migration that took place last week.
155. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of additional special needs assistants provided for in budget 2016’s new measures, and any additional measures and resources contained within the commitment to facilitate children with disabilities. [40860/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that some €1.37 billion will be spent in support of children with Special Educational Needs this year, which represents approximately 15% of my Department's budget.This provides for a range of supports and services including additional learning and resource teaching support, Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support, special transport arrangements, building adaptations, enhanced capitation, funding for the purchase of specialised equipment, services of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), enhanced levels of capitation in Special schools and Special Classes and additional teacher training.
The policy of my Department is that children with special educational needs should be included where possible and appropriate in mainstream placements with additional supports provided. In circumstances where children with special educational need require more specialised interventions, special school or special class places are also available.
A range of supports have been provided for schools which have enrolled pupils with special educational needs in order to ensure that, wherever a child is enrolled, they will have access to an appropriate education.
We now have a higher level of Resource Teaching and SNA support than ever before.
In July last, I announced that an additional 610 Special Needs Assistant posts are being provided for this year. From September, there are 11,820 whole time equivalent SNA posts available in Primary, Post Primary and Special schools to support children with special educational needs with assessed care needs. This is the highest level of SNA allocation that we have ever had and builds on the increases of 365 additional SNA posts provided for in last year's budget announcement and the 390 additional SNA posts announced in December 2013. In total there has been an increase of 11.7% in SNA posts available for allocation to schools since this Government came to office.
These extra posts will ensure that the Government's policy of ensuring that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.
I also announced provision for an additional 480 Resource Teachers to take into account increased demand and demographic growth and to ensure that children can continue to have access to additional supports in school.
In addition, the NCSE has established over 150 new Special Classes in the 2015/16 school year, which means there are now over 1,000 special classes attached to mainstream schools catering for children with special educational needs.
This Government's continued investment in education will ensure that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs. We have been resolutely committed to protecting, and in some instances increasing, the level of investment being made to support children with special educational needs at a time when there has been a requirement to make expenditure reductions across a range of areas. It is an area of spending which has been prioritised above most other areas by this Government, despite the enormous pressures on all areas of public spending.
156. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a special needs assistant will be assigned solely to a pupil with on the autism spectrum disorder in a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40763/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs.
The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.
Once allocated, 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.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2015/16 school year by 18th March 2015. The NCSE also continued to accept applications after this date in recognition that enrolments may not have been completed or where assessments were not completed.
The NCSE has published details of SNA allocations for schools for September 2015 on its website www.ncse.ie. Details of SNA allocations for 2014/15 are also available on the NCSE website.
The website indicates that the school in question had an allocation of 24 whole time equivalent (WTE) SNA posts in the 2014/15 school year, increasing to 28 WTE posts for the 2015/16 school year.
I understand that the NCSE has recently visited the school on foot of correspondence received from the school in relation to its SNA allocation. I have been advised that the NCSE will be in further contact with the school in this regard shortly.
All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, while 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.
157. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of providing a replacement primary school for a school (details supplied) in County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40805/15]
View answerI wish to draw the Deputy's attention to my announcement yesterday of the new Construction Programme, for 2016-2021, which aims to prioritise new building projects and major extensions, including special schools, in areas where significant demographic need has been established. The new Programme also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms for schools outside the plan where an immediate enrolment need has been identified, such as the appointment of an additional teacher.
In addition, the Programme prioritises projects that have a major deficit of mainstream accommodation capacity for current enrolments, require major refurbishment and replacement of poor accommodation and to provide additional accommodation to meet increases in enrolments.
The Programme includes 310 major school building projects where construction is expected to commence over the six year period, 2016 to 2021.
The timeline for when work is expected to proceed is outlined in the announcement. Each project is listed in the year when the commencement of construction works is anticipated. The Department will be in communication with all those schools on the programme in relation to the next steps to be taken, at the appropriate time, as the projects progress through the various stages of the architectural planning process.
Details of all projects on the Six Year Construction Programme 2016 – 2021 are published on my Department's website and this will be updated regularly.
I am pleased to advise the Deputy that a project for Scoil Chaitríona, Renmore is included in the Programme.
158. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of a leaving certificate 2015 student (details supplied) who was allocated a special centre and a shared reader, but who failed her leaving certificate honours English paper; that on the student's paper being reviewed the student was deemed to have passed and was then brought down by a supervisor which resulted in her failing; and how the difference in the checking and marking of examination papers can occur when, for example, one question on Paper 2 which was 12 marks was brought down to seven marks. [40806/15]
View answerThe State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations.
The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.
159. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students awaiting grants from Student Universal Support Ireland, by county. [40828/15]
View answerI am informed by SUSI that the grants processing position as at 8 November, 2015 is as follows:
- SUSI has received 107,720 (65,592 New and 42,128 Renewal) student grant applications for the 2015/16 academic year of which 16,500 were received after the Priority Processing Closing dates;
- 81,600 (76%) applications have been processed to completion, of which 66,200 applications have been awarded a grant, 11,100 have been refused a grant and 4,300 applications have been cancelled. Of the 26,120 pending applications, SUSI is currently awaiting documentation from 8,500 students and will continue to finalise grant applications as this documentation is received.
I am informed by SUSI that a geographical breakdown for the country is not currently available.
