Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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242. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the date for the publication of the next circular in relation to SNA allocation to schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24018/24]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Special needs assistants (SNA) allocations for the 2024/2025 school year are presently being developed by my department and schools will be advised of their allocation as soon as possible and in line with previous years’ timelines.

For 2024, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education, an increase of €113 million. This is dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs and will allow for, amongst other things, the opening of up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools, 300 additional special school places and will increase the number of teaching and SNA posts.

My department allocated 1,194 additional SNAs to schools this year and Budget 2024 provides for a further 1,216. These SNAs will be allocated as follows: 806 to support students in new special classes, 150 to support students in new special school places and 260 to support students in mainstream classes. This will bring the number of SNAs nationwide to over 21,000 and will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.