John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)

While I welcome any progress made in the allocation of special needs assistants, the Minister may be aware that 800 applications were made for the aforementioned 475 posts. It was envisaged that 300 of these posts would be filled prior to Christmas. I do not understand the logic of delaying the allocation of posts given that no new SNAs were made available for new children coming into junior infants this year. Why do we not allocate the remaining posts?

In regard to the NCSE and its role in reducing the number of SNAs, will the Minister consider an independent appeals system for parents who are unhappy with how resources and SNAs are allocated? There are differences of opinion and parents perceive a lack of transparency and inconsistency in the allocation of SNAs and the appeals process.

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