Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

It is scandalous that there are children with special needs today whose parents do not know whether they will be able to start school in the new term because the necessary SNA support is not yet in place. To give one example, there is a rural school in County Monaghan which has one SNA and one pupil who depends full time on this support. Another pupil is due to start at the school next month, who will also need a full-time SNA. This is the position of the school, the position of the preschool which the child is attending at present and the position of every professional who has worked with the child. The NCSE and the Government have not yet sanctioned the extra SNA at the school. In fact, the advice being given to the school is that the SNA who is already there should be shared between the two students. All of the evidence suggests this would be an extremely dangerous situation. It would not be an exaggeration to state that such an approach would present a significant risk to both students. Will the Government engage urgently with the NCSE to ensure this issue and the hundreds of other cases like it are urgently resolved?

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