Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, but parents and teachers across the country have noted a squeezing of the SNA support available to students and are rightly concerned about the tone of the aforementioned circular from the Department. A number of specific points made in the circular are giving rise to concern among parents and teachers. It states that in order to receive SNA support, the care needs outlined must be of such significance that they are beyond what would normally be expected to be provided by way of support for a child by the class teacher or other school teachers or beyond the level of assistance which would be offered by other students or the student's fellow pupils. The idea that a departmental circular would put the responsibility on fellow pupils to cater for needs that up to now would have been catered for by SNAs is of great concern to many. At post-primary level, the circular states only students with chronic and serious care needs should need SNA support and that continued and ongoing access to SNA support is generally not desirable for post-primary students. The tone of this statement is deeply unsympathetic. I ask the Minister of State, in the context of the aforementioned points made in the circular which are causing real concern in terms of their implications for students who need support, to provide reassurance that this does not indicate a further squeeze on SNA hours.

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