Ms Martina Mannion:

We will have 20,000 SNAs in our school system this year - the largest number we will have ever had - supporting the children in our system. Just short of 5,000 of them will be in special classes. Approximately 11,500 of them will be in mainstream and almost 3,000 will be in our special schools. However, as we increase the numbers of special classes or schools, we will also be ensuring we have those additional SNAs and special education teachers in those posts.