Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy when he makes reference to the importance of clarifying the role of special needs assistants, SNAs, in schools. As I stated in my earlier reply, the Department's officials are at present engaging with school management bodies and parent representative groups to outline exactly this to them, as well as to allay any concerns or fears they might have that the recent circular will lead to a reduction in SNA numbers or allocations, because that is not the intention and certainly is not what will happen. It always has been standard practice that SNA allocations are reviewed annually. The circular acknowledges that pupils will have care needs that will remain constant and there are some disabilities which remain with the young person throughout his or her life. In the case of such young people, their care needs rarely evolve or improve. However, for very large numbers of other children, the exact opposite happens and with the support of an SNA and the classroom teacher, those care needs diminish over time, which is something that should be welcomed. The fact that SNA allocations are reviewed annually does not mean this will lead to a reduction in SNA support for individual pupils or for schools that have pupils who have continuing needs.

I stress that what is being done here is simply clarifying the role of the SNA and ensuring that where an SNA support is needed and where those resources need to be channelled to those who need it most, this will be done and is exactly what will happen. While I do not make this charge against the two Deputies opposite, I caution people against spreading fear among parents that this circular somehow will diminish the allocation of SNAs. That is not the intention and as I stated previously, the Government is increasing the number of posts by 309 before the end of this year. At the end of 2014, the number of SNAs allocated in the education system will be the highest since the SNA support system began.

See this speech in context