Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth

Recruitment and Retention of Special Needs Assistants: Discussion

2:00 am

Mr. Andy Pike:

Yes, and tightening up. The quick answer to the Deputy's second question is that we do believe there is a realisation that once SNAs are in schools, they do a lot more than just meet physical care needs. There is a whole range of things that SNAs do that supports students and enables them to have a really beneficial educational experience. However, the gateway is still the criteria of an assessment of additional care needs and very often that is around whether there are any physical care needs, medical issues, a need for the administration of medication and so on. It is still the old criteria and those boxes need to be ticked to get a new SNA into a school. Once he or she is there, the role is now much expanded.

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