Vol. 571 No. 4
274 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of persons with special needs who have lost resource or remedial teaching hours as a result of cutbacks in this sector; the number of persons who are still waiting for their needs to be assessed and met; and when his Department will deal with the backlog of applications for special needs persons. [22025/03]
I wish to advise the Deputy that there are no cutbacks in the provision of resources for children with special educational needs nor is there any intention on my part to remove resource or learning support teacher hours from schools in respect of individual pupils who have been assessed as having special educational needs within the definitions of my Department's circulars.
At present, my Department has approximately 4,700 applications for special educational needs supports. These applications are being reviewed by a dedicated team of inspectors and psychologists from my Department and every effort will be made to issue a response as early as possible during the current school year. A census of pupils with special educational needs and associated resources in primary schools is being conducted at present and the data will enable the team to consider the applications in the context of the existing level of resources available to each school.
