Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to stress that the allocation of SNAs for this year was frozen. It will remain unchanged until September 2021 and then the front-loading allocation system will kick in. No SNA was taken away from any school. The Deputy is right that there is an exceptional review process. That is available for schools if they need to challenge the fact they need additionality in terms of an SNA. It was very clear, however, and I and the Department worked closely on ensuring no SNA would not be replaced in terms of the school reopening. A significant investment of €14.7 million was put in the school reopening plan for the special education sector to ensure there would be no absences of SNAs, and if there was, that they would be immediately replaced. They have a critical and crucial role in terms of children with special needs being able to interact in a school environment. We now have an unprecedented 18,000 SNAs throughout the country. I will also review the exceptional review process mechanism to ensure it will be streamlined in a more paper-friendly way, as it were, for the schools.

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