Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming. I have a very important issue that I would like to speak to her about.

Last month the Department issued the news that 800 new special needs assistants were to be allocated to schools from September. The reason given was that there was a record number of children in mainstream schools who required support. While I welcome the early announcement as it will eliminate the usual uncertainty among schools, the SNA allocations are not happening fast enough for the children who need them and the staff who provide such assistance. A total of 110.6 posts have been allocated to Carlow schools for September. There will be reductions in some schools and increases in others, but there will be no increase in Ballinabranna national school, despite the fact that with the new intake of children in September, four children will need SNA support. I will not name the children or identify their specific needs to protect their privacy, but, in some cases, they need constant supervision, which will be impossible as they cross all classes and ages. Last week I was contacted by parents who were suffering from anxiety because of the allocation. The allocation for the school will not serve the well-being of any of the children in need of this support and I have serious concerns about the morale of SNAs.

Ballinabranna national school is a mixed school that has almost 200 pupils. It was allocated a total of 46.05 hours, but it has only one SNA post. The parents of the children have been at pains to highlight the great support they receive from the SNA, the staff and the principal, but they believe the Department has let the down with its allocation. In terms of the number of hours allocated, I am concerned that one SNA will be required to work these hours. The parents asked for help; the school applied for support and contact was made with special educational needs organiser, yet this September, according to the Department's allocation, four children will have to share a resource that can only be described as overstretched.

When considering whether to make an application for the support of a special needs assistant, it is important that a balance be struck between providing the necessary care support and the right of a child to acquire personal independence skills. In the case of Ballinabranna national school, each of the four children requires constant care support to be independent. When faced with the prospect that their child will need medical assistance and supervision at all times during the school day, the parents believe they might have to be on-call throughout in case their child needs an intervention to administer medication or support a medical need while the SNA is attending to another child. It does not offer independence to a child when a parent must swoop in on a regular basis and does not assist the parent to live a full life while the child is at school.

The duties of special needs assistants sanctioned by the Department are non-teaching. Teachers cannot be required to administer medication or supervise a child who could have a serious medical need while they go about their work.SNAs provide these children with the tools they need in order to go to school and participate with their peers. Without this support, these children would be unfairly discriminated against and SNAs will be pulled in all sorts of directions. In addition, a child needing help may feel isolated because he or she requires something he or she cannot access because the system does not allow it. It is not acceptable that four children with individual needs must share one SNA. What happens if the SNA is off site with one child on, for example, a school tour? What should the other three do?

When a child begins primary school, we try to ensure that he or she is included. If a child comes from a preschool setting with full SNA access to a school where the SNA has three other children to deal with and is in a different part of the building, he or she will not feel included. I want the Minister of State to look at the allocation for the school to which I refer in particular and to listen to what the parents, the school, the SNA and myself are saying. This is a very important issue. These families and their children are being neglected. I am asking for an additional SNA because having four children with one SNA is not acceptable.