Vol. 455 No. 8
223 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Education if she will allow the sanctioned classroom assistant for Scoil Aonghusa, Cashel, County Tipperary, to be appointed due to the special needs of the children in the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13143/95]
238 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Education when she will re-approve the appointment of child care assistants to St. Anne's and St. Clare's schools, Ennis, County Clare. [13282/95]
240 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education the exact amount of savings made by the decision by her Department to withdraw sanction for 30 childcare assistant posts in special schools which were originally approved in June 1995, and subsequently withdrawn in late July 1995. [13307/95]
I propose to take Question Nos. 223, 238 and 240 together.
The 30 posts to which the Deputies refer were part of a total of 100 extra childcare assistant posts which were originally intended for deployment in the special education area with effect from September 1995. The 100 posts in question were allocated in June of this year and schools were selected for receipt of these posts on the basis of priority of need as determined by my Department's inspectorate.
However, as a result of the recent Government decision to curb the growth in public expenditure, it became necessary for my Department to reduce the proposed level of growth in childcare assistant posts in the current year. This resulted in the withdrawal of 30 of the 100 posts originally allocated.
I take this opportunity to point out that while the Government's decision has resulted in a reduction in the level of growth in childcare assistant posts originally intended, it remains the case that an additional 70 such posts have been deployed in the current year. This is on top of an extra 50 such posts allocated in 1994. Indeed, the number of childcare assistant posts in place has grown very significantly in recent years from 82 in 1993 to 202 in 1995.
