Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 February 2024
200. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education if her Department will liaise directly with a school (details supplied) as soon as possible regarding a matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7179/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise that my Department has no current record of receiving an application for additional accommodation from the school in question.
The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.
At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school’s accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by Teacher Allocation Section, or a new SEN class has been sanctioned by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.
It is open to the school authority to make an application for additional accommodation through the 'Additional School Accommodation scheme (ASA)' which is available at www.education.ie.
In an effort to assist the school, officials in the Department have been in contact with the school directly and will continue to liaise with the school in this regard.
