Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister can give a commitment that this is resolved once and for all and it will not be happening again after happening for four years in a row, I would say that SNAs would be relieved to hear that. For the past couple of summers I have been contacted by school principals and SNAs affected by this.

On the more general issue of allocation of SNAs, I welcome the increase in SNAs. It is largely keeping up with demographic changes and increases in the number of children with special needs. Over the summer, some worrying kites were flown about the special education needs budget being too large. Thankfully the Government pulled back from making any cuts. With that background, there is rightful concern that the Government may attempt to cut back, which would be completely unjustified.

See this speech in context