Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. It is great to see the number of SNAs. Will she comment on the increases in recent years? In my local area of Roscommon and Galway the increase has had a huge impact. Many more schools offer special needs classes and more children are being brought into the mainstream. We are dealing with inclusion. This is what all of this is about. It is that we treat people in the same way, that they get the same access and that we have special supports in place. SNAs provide us with the opportunity to be able to include children in our mainstream classes. How many SNAs have we had in the past year or two? I would also like information on the budgets.

As with so many roles in society, qualifications are a way to acknowledge the work and effort made by people. The work of SNAs, as with healthcare assistants, can go unseen. SNAs work with teachers in the classroom and with principals and they are integral part of a school. They may be a new addition to the teaching staff in a school. Many courses, particularly those provided by education and training boards, recognise prior learning. SNAs should be acknowledged for the role they play. Certain training programmes have been rolled out recently for SNAs. Will the Minister of State comment on the training programmes in place to support the people in these roles to provide the best care they can and reach their potential?