€1bn being spent in area of special needs, says Coughlan

MINISTER FOR Education and Skills Mary Coughlan told the Dáil that a total of €1 billion, one-ninth of her department’s budget, was being spent in the area of special needs.

“This is the most significant statement of our level of commitment and, despite the current economic difficulties, funding for special education has not been cut.”

The Minister was responding to a Fine Gael Private Members’ motion calling on the Government to freeze the cuts to special needs assistants (SNAs) and introduce an independent appeals system for parents for schools who had already lost one.

Fine Gael spokesman Brian Hayes said the decision to slash the number of SNAs by Ms Coughlan’s predecessor (Batt O’Keeffe) was “short-sighted, ignored key advice and made children with special needs pay for the mistakes of Government”.

Rejecting the Fine Gael motion, Ms Coughlan asked if the party believed that SNAs should be kept in schools even where the children had left. “I appreciate that schools would like more teachers, more SNAs, more funding. However, resources must be targeted at those children who need them.”

Ms Coughlan insisted there was no question of posts being removed from schools meeting the scheme’s criteria.

A review, she added, had revealed that 920 SNA posts were freed up as it was found that the students to whom the posts related had actually left the relevant school. More than 1,300 new SNA posts had been sanctioned, while 733 posts were freed up because students had diminished care needs.

“While the overall number of SNA posts nationally is down 3.5 per cent, this is mainly as a result of schools retaining posts when the child to whom the post related had actually left the school.”

Ms Coughlan said there was no change in the level of SNA support in just over 1,500 schools, while 579 received an increase in their allocation.

Some 832 schools had their allocations reduced because the students had either left the school or because of the development of the student’s independent living skills, she added. About 900 schools did not have an SNA.

Mr Hayes said SNAs had been removed without access to a proper independent appeals system. “The criteria for determining SNA provision is totally dated and needs to be urgently reviewed.”

Mr Hayes said special schools and classes were needed within mainstream education for many years to come.

“Last year the Minister for Education effectively knocked out over 100 special classes in mainstream schools.”

He said what was most appalling about the position of special schools, and their role within the system, was the dramatic reduction many of them had seen in SNA support.

“Some special schools have seen a reduction of 40 per cent in SNA support in the middle of a school year,’’ said Mr Hayes.