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

In response to Deputy Finian McGrath's question, there are an extra 480 resource teaching posts available in the school system this year and another 480 will be made available next year. By the end of this year there will be the highest number of SNAs ever employed in the school system in the history of the State and that number is set to increase next year. Within the finite resources available to us, we have, as best we can, protected special needs education within the overall education budget, which has been a central tenet of the work of the Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, in the past three years.

To reply to Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett's question, if the INTO has a concern that, without lifting the moratorium, schools will not have the required resources available to them, I again suggest it take up that question in the upcoming consultation process.

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