Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 June 2013
102. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills when schools will be informed of student allocations of resource hours and special needs assistants allocations for the academic year beginning September 2013; the reason schools have not been informed already in view of the fact applications closed on 15 March; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29992/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that the NCSE, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants to schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education supports and the staffing resources available to my Department. All schools were advised to apply to the NCSE for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2013-14 school year by 15 March 2013. The NCSE has been processing these applications and schools will be notified by SENOs of their resource teaching and SNA allocation for 2013-14 in advance of the coming school year, based on the number of valid applications received. I assure the Deputies that this process has been done as expeditiously as possible by the NCSE to allow schools and principals sufficient time to plan for the coming school year. As the NCSE allocates resources to schools to support over 30,000 pupils annually, some time is required to process all of the applications which are received each year, in advance of notifying schools of their allocations. I can advise the Deputy that the NCSE published details of allocations for SNAs and resource teaching hours for the 2013-14 school year yesterday, Wednesday, 19 June. These details are now available on the NCSE website, www.ncse.ie. They detail the allocations made for each school on a per county basis.
