Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments. In terms of the allocation of SNAs generally, there was provision for an allocation of 1,165 in budget 2022. For the information of the Deputy and the committee, 623 of those SNAs have so far been allocated, with the balance of 542 to be allocated by the end of the year. That probably will be done through the exceptional review process and there will be posts for special schools and special classes.

On accreditation, as I said in my opening statement and as I have said before at this committee and in exchanges with the Deputy in the Dáil Chamber, one of the first things we wanted to do, following the comprehensive review the NCSE did of the SNA scheme, was to make sure we put training in place, which we did. I referred to the UCD course, in which 3,500 SNAs will take part. As it is the first instance of this programme, it is important that we take time to review the course and its outcomes. Part of the consideration under that review will be looking at accreditation of SNAs.

Two reports have come in to us, the first being the review of the SNA programme, which was conducted by the teaching and learning committee within the UCD school of education. The second report was an evaluation based on data gathered from the first cohort of students who completed the programme. The feedback of these SNAs who participated in the course is going to be extremely important. Both reports are under review by officials at present and they will inform our consideration of accreditation. It is important to say that. It certainly is not something that is being ruled out, but there is a process to follow and we need to take it step by step.