Offaly primary school launches High Court action over allocation of special needs assistants

The action has been taken by the Board of Management of Shinrone National School in Co Offaly, which says it sought the additional SNA so it can fully and properly care for the needs of students currently and will enrol in the school later this year.

The co-educational school currently has five mainstream teachers, two special education needs teachers, an autism class teacher and six SNAs.

Late last year it asked the NCSE, the state body whose functions include the provision of education to persons with special needs, for additional SNA support.

It believes that its current allocation will not be sufficient to meet those needs.

The application was rejected, and the school board lodged an appeal of that decision to the NSCE's Independent Appeals Advisory Committee which will have the final say on the matter.

However the board claims that the appeal has yet to be heard and no date has been set for the hearing of the appeal.

The school board claims that the delay in hearing the appeal amounts to a breach of fair procedures.

The board, represented by Feichin McDonagh SC, Brendan Hennessy Bl instructed by solicitor Patrick O'Neill said that there was some urgency to the application, because the current school year is coming to an end.

If the appeal is not heard soon, the board says it would find itself into a new school year when the entire process of seeking the allocation of SNAs from the NCSE starts again.

As a result the school's board has brought High Court judicial review proceedings where it seeks an order compelling the NCSE to determine its appeal.

The matter came before Ms Justice Niamh Hyland, who granted the school's board permission to bring the challenge following the side only represented application.

The judge adjourned the case to later this month.