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

In his earlier response, the Minister of State outlined that it is the ambition of every parent that his or her child will get to a position where he or she does not need any SNA support. Indeed, it is the hope of every parent at the outset that his or her child would not need such support in the first place. However, in cases where a child needs such support, it is the ambition of a parent to be able to have the reassurance that the child actually will receive it when it is needed. The important point here is that reassurance should be given that this service will be provided. However, in recent years, the experience on the ground has been quite different. In common with the other Members present, I am sure the Minister of State will have spoken to teachers and parents. When one visits a school, one of the biggest difficulties teachers will raise is the pressure on them in respect of SNA resources. While the number of SNAs has increased slightly, the Minister of State indicated there would be a further 300 this year, the actual demand last September alone, for example, increased by 10%. The number of SNA supports did not match that increase. In addition, there has been a similar increase in demand for resource teacher posts and as a result, the Government decided to try to reduce the resource teaching hours being allocated per student but subsequently made a U-turn in that regard. Similarly, the Government did not increase the number of SNAs. A difficulty also arises with regard to the increasing practice of special educational needs organisers, SENOs, giving shared access to an SNA at school level, after which the responsibility is left with the teachers and the school to try to manage that. This is exceptionally difficult and nearly impossible in many situations.

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