Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 February 2016
445. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reverse the decision to cut a special needs assistant from Saint Christopher's Service in County Longford given that the HSE has acknowledged that the service is not receiving adequate hours and resources. [4159/16]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, 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.
It is important to note that each school's allocation of SNA support can change from year to year and may be increased or decreased as students who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. New students with care needs may, or may not, enrol to replace students who have left, for example, or SNA allocations may be decreased where a child's care needs have diminished over time.
The NCSE has published details of SNA allocations for schools for September 2015 on its website www.ncse.ie.
The NCSE has advised that the school concerned recently lodged an appeal of its staffing allocation under the NCSE appeal process, details of which are provided at www.ncse.ie. The school has now been advised of the outcome of this appeal.
The NCSE will also consider staffing requirements for the school for the coming 2016/17 school year, taking into account any revisions to the overall pupil enrolment.As the matter referred to in this question relates to NCSE allocation decision for an individual school, I have referred this question to the NCSE for their consideration and direct reply to the Deputy.
