Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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145. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps her Department is taking to address the urgent issue of special needs assistant (SNA) resourcing in the Roscommon-Galway constituency, particularly in light of the current pause in the allocation process and the restriction that appeals may only be submitted in July 2025; and if she will consider interim measures or fast tracking appeals for schools in rural areas, where children with complex medical and educational needs are being supported in mainstream classrooms without current SNA allocations, placing school communities in an unsafe and unsustainable position heading into September. [40062/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs, including the allocation of special needs assistants (SNAs). The NCSE has advised my department that all schools have been informed of their SNA allocation for the 2025/26 school year.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is, in the first instance, the primary body responsible for the matter the Deputy has raised. Deputies are welcome to raise such matters with the NCSE directly through their dedicated Oireachtas query line at oireachtasqueries@ncse.ie.

It is open to any school which feels like it has insufficient SNA support to meet the needs of its students to submit to the NCSE a request seeking a review of its allocation. Detailed information on the NCSE's SNA review process is published on the NCSE's website: .

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.

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.

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.