Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the questions raised and would advise the following:

Budget 2022 provides funding for an additional 1,165 SNAs (in 2022) to provide support to children with special educational needs, which will bring the total number of SNAs to 19,169 at the end of December 2022.This will represent an increase of 81% since 2011 at which time 10,575 were provided.

When a school has been allocated an SNA, the Board of Management, as the employer, is responsible for filling the vacancy and the decision on whether to employ a full time SNA to fill a full time post or to employ an equivalent number of part time SNAs rests with the employer.

My Department acts as paymaster to over 3,700 schools whose Boards of Management are the direct employers of the SNAs in those schools. SNAs in the Education and Training Board sector are employed and paid by the ETBs.

The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and reviews. The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.

The NCSE publish statistics on SNA allocations to primary, post primary and special schools in tabular form, by county, for each school year, and this information is available on their website, www.ncse.ie.

As this question relates to the allocation of SNA support I have referred the question to the NCSE for their direct reply.