Vol. 508 No. 1
874 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will have examinations made into the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6W who is most anxious to ensure that special support teaching hours are available in a mainstream school for his Down's syndrome child and that the teaching hours for other children are not reduced as proposed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17796/99]
In 1992, the school in question was allocated a resource teacher to cater for the educational needs of pupils with special needs. That post was shared with three other schools. An application was recently received for additional support to cater for an increase in the number of pupils with special needs.
The caseload of the resource teacher was reviewed. My Department then sanctioned additional support in the form of part-time hours. Following an appeal by the schools, it was decided the full-time resource post would be continued to be based in the school in question, but the post would now be shared with just one other school. Part-time hours were sanctioned to cater for the needs of the other two schools.
The needs of the pupils referred to by the Deputy will continue to be catered for by the resource teacher in the school.
