Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
516 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science if special needs transport will be offered to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22260/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has requested a report on this case from Bus Éireann. The case will be given further consideration as soon as the report has been received.
517 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare will be offered a special needs teacher for three hours per day; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22261/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department allocates additional teaching support and special needs assistant support to second level schools and vocational education committees to cater for pupils with special educational needs. Applications for such support are made to my Department by the relevant school authority. Each application is considered on the basis of the assessed needs of the pupils involved and the nature and level of the support provided is determined on the advice of the psychological service.
An application seeking an additional resources to address the special educational needs of a number of pupils in the school concerned, including the pupil to whom the Deputy refers, was submitted to my Department by County Kildare VEC. Following examination of this application, my Department allocated an additional 95.75 teaching hours plus 46 special needs assistant support hours per week for the 2004-05 school year to address the needs of the pupils concerned.
518 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science if extra teaching hours will be offered to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare who currently has a teaching assistant for three and a half hours per week; if this arrangement will be permanent for the entire school year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22262/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI inform the Deputy that 3.5 hours resource teaching and a full-time special needs assistant, or SNA, have been approved by my Department for the pupil in question. All such allocations are subject to review, although I can confirm that the resource teaching support approved in this case will remain in place for the 2004-05 school year.
It has been my intention for some time to carry out a general review of special needs assistant support levels and deployment in mainstream national schools. Bearing in mind the view expressed by schools that any such review should have regard to the situation on the ground, I have decided that the process should involve a visit to each school which has SNA support. Arrangements are being made for this review to commence at an early date and a further communication will issue to schools in this regard. Decisions regarding the appropriate level of SNA support in individual schools will be based on the outcome of this review. Pending notification of the outcome, schools have been advised by my Department that if they have surplus SNA capacity, they may retain the excess up to the level of applications made to the Department for which a response is awaited.
