Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach very well knows, holding the Government to account is not playing politics. I point to the irony of a Government that itself has played politics and rushed very quickly to point fingers at SNAs, teachers and anyone bar itself for this fiasco.

There is a shared objective for special education to function. The Minister says that she is committed to that, but she has twice announced its reopening and has twice failed to deliver. The consultation that happened was clearly insufficient and the Minister jumped the gun. She made the big announcement, to considerable fanfare, that services would resume, but she did not have the plan in place. She had not settled or reassured teachers and SNAs, the caring, wonderful professionals who deliver the services and support to these wonderful children and young people. The plan had not been finalised. By any calculation, that was a gross misjudgment on her part.

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