Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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449. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the 1,600 additional SNA posts promised by her have been awarded. [32626/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.

I know the central role that our special needs assistants (SNAs) play in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

That is why the number of SNAs available for allocation has continued to increase annually resulting in more SNAs than ever now being employed in our schools.

Budget 2025 provided for 1,600 SNAs, the largest number ever allocated in a single year, meaning the total number of SNAs available in our schools in September will be 23,179. This is more than double the number of SNAs that were in our schools 10 years ago.

As the Deputy knows, it is the role of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to manage the allocations of SNAs across the country and to ensure that all of the additional SNAs provided for by this government are allocated to schools to support those children with the highest level of need so they get the highest level of support.

The NCSE also now has a full complement of staffing so have the resources and supports to ensure they can do their work effectively and in a timely manner. The NCSE advised all schools on the week of 6 June of their SNA allocation for the upcoming school year.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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450. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there are now over 23,600 SNAs for the coming academic year. [32627/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.

I know the central role that our SNAs play in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

That is why the number of SNAs available for allocation has continued to increase annually resulting in more SNAs than ever now being employed in our schools.

Budget 2025 provided for 1,600 SNAs, the largest number ever allocated in a single year, meaning the total number of SNAs available in our schools in September will be 23,179. This is more than double the number of SNAs that were in our schools 10 years ago.

As the Deputy knows, it is the role of the National Council for Special Education to manage the allocations of SNAs across the country and to ensure that all of the additional SNAs provided for by this Government are allocated to schools to support those children with the highest level of need so they get the highest level of support.

The NCSE also now has a full complement of staffing so have the resources and supports to ensure they can do their work effectively and in a timely manner.

It is important that we continue to meet this need across our education system and as you know the Programme for Government commits to recruitment of additional SNAs to provide greater support to students and schools. We will continue to engage through the Estimates process to ensure that we can meet the needs of all children in our schools.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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451. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of SNA posts that are part-time hours or job-sharing posts. [32628/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The position is that there are currently 23,452 SNAs working in schools. Of these 2,362 hold junior posts (working 26.5 hours). There are also 4,210 SNAs who are job-sharing or work part-time.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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452. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she plans to reverse the national budgetary cap on SNA posts. [32629/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.

I know the central role that our special needs assistants (SNAs) play in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

That is why the number of SNAs available for allocation has continued to increase annually resulting in more SNAs than ever now being employed in our schools. Budget 2025 provided for 1,600 SNAs, the largest number ever allocated in a single year, meaning the total number of SNAs available in our schools in September will be 23,179. This is more than double the number of SNAs that were in our schools 10 years ago.

As the Deputy knows, it is the role of the National Council for Special Education (NCCSE) to manage the allocations of SNAs across the country and to ensure that all of the additional SNAs provided for by this Government are allocated to schools to support those children with the highest level of need so they get the highest level of support.

The NCSE also now has a full complement of staffing so have the resources and supports to ensure they can do their work effectively and in a timely manner.

It is important that we continue to meet this need across our education system and as you know the Programme for Government commits to recruitment of additional SNAs to provide greater support to students and schools. We will continue to engage through the estimates process to ensure that we can meet the needs of all children in our schools.