Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Daly. There are a number of issues here. We got funding for 1,600 additional special needs assistants in the last budget. We will be working with Government again to increase that for 2026-27. I think there are 23,500 special needs assistants within the system at the moment. That has increased by 30% over the past five or six years. We are meeting the needs in it. We are very mindful that we have a huge amount of money invested. SNAs are doing huge work.

When one goes into a special school or a special class in mainstream, one is genuinely empowered by seeing the work the SNAs are doing, and we salute them for that. An SNA development programme is ongoing. There are always anomalies within the system. I have no difficulties in taking details from members to see whether we can get a resolution to issues they raised.

There is a multi-annual budget for the special education allowance. We have been working very hard, coming up to this month, to ensure the special classes and special schools are in place. By having the 1 October deadline, we hope to be in a better place next June or July, rather than having to squash everything into the July and August period. We will work with schools. We will know the need on 1 October, which will be four months earlier than last year. We will work to find where we need the special classes. We hugely welcome that many schools have put their hand up looking for special classes. However, there are some schools that really need to buy into the process. Departmental officials spent most of yesterday meeting with the patron bodies at second level to impress on them the need to work together. We have been working on this right through the summer and that work is ongoing. When we know the need on 1 October, we will make plans to ensure we have a better roll-out for next year.