Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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480. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools, by county for which an outstanding SNA review was ongoing at the commencement of the new school year; if she will introduce policies to ensure that such a situation does not arise in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48085/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is a priority for this Government. It is also a key priority for me, my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

SNAs play a central role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools. They help ensure that these students can access an education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

SNA posts are allocated to schools as a school-based resource. Principals/board of managements deploy SNAs within schools to meet the care support requirements of the children enrolled whom SNA support has been allocated. This provides schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.

If a school feels like it has insufficient SNA support to meet the needs of its students an application can be submitted to the NCSE requesting a review of its allocation.

Detailed information on the NCSE's SNA review process is published on the NCSE's ncse.ie/sna-review-mainstream. Each case is individually assessed and is based on the student profile of each school.

Some review requests can be concluded as an office-based exercise, whilst others require a school to be visited in order to observe the current deployment of SNA support in the school setting.

The timeframe for concluding a review can vary depending on the school context or the nature of the information provided.

Following the outcome of the review, the NCSE can make a local special educational needs organiser (SENO) available to the school to discuss their current deployment of SNA supports in the school and to put these supports to the best advantage of the students. NCSE in-school support is also available to schools to offer further guidance and support.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is, in the first instance, the primary body responsible for the matter the Deputy has raised. I have forwarded this issue to them for their attention and direct reply.

Deputies are also welcome to raise such queries with the NCSE directly through their dedicated Oireachtas query line at oireachtasqueries@ncse.ie.