246. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Education and Youth if her attention has been drawn to the concerns of management in a school (details supplied) in relation to the failure of her Department to maintain support levels and resourcing to match their significant growth in student numbers. [66359/26]

After Fórsa accepted the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) agreement about salaries and leave for grant-funded school secretaries, the secretaries who accepted the agreement were added to the Department of Education and Youth’s payroll from September 2023.

Work is currently underway to develop an allocation model for school secretaries which will inform schools of the level of resources permitted within each school, which will be subject to available funding via the annual estimates process. Further information will be provided to schools when it becomes available. The department will be engaging with Management Bodies in due course.

The key factor for determining the level of teaching resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

The staffing arrangements include a provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream posts, using projected enrolment. The school referred to by the Deputy has been allocated three posts on this basis for the current school year. Such posts are initially allocated on a provisional basis, pending confirmation of the school’s enrolment on 30 September.

The special education teacher (SET) is an additional resource provided to all mainstream schools to support students with an identified additional learning need based on the continuum of support framework.

When annual SET allocations are published, if a school believes they have been allocated insufficient SET resources to meet the identified and recorded special education needs of their pupils they can request a review by the NCSE. If the NCSE identify that additional SET resources are required, the school will receive them.

Schools must allocate their SET resources on the basis that the pupils with the highest level of learning need receive the greatest level of SET support. The identified needs and action plan to support the pupil should be recorded in the student support plan and a critical component of the plan is the parent/guardians input along with the views of the pupil.

In the case of Cherrywood Educate Together National School, the school submitted a SET review to the NCSE when allocations for 2026/27 were published, and they recommended an increase in SET hours.

The schools SET allocations for mainstream classes has increased from 87.5 SET hours per week for 2025/26 school year to 140 SET hours per week for this school year, this is an increase of 60% in SET resources.

In the case of SNA resources, the school has an allocation of 10.33 SNA posts. If the school believes that they require additional SNA resources to meet the care needs of pupils, they should contact their local NCSE Special Education Needs Organiser to discuss this matter.