Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of concerns of school principals, boards of management, and parents of children with additional needs where there is not sufficient provision of SNAs in some schools for the 2025/2026 school year, if additional appointments can be sanctioned without further delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34563/25]

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. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

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 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.

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.

My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.