Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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229. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware that a school (details supplied) in Cork has a critically low level of SNA support and has reduced the timetable of children in the school to three and four days a week, which will greatly upset their heavily relied upon routine; and the measures she will take to ensure there is adequate SNA support available for the school to run normally. [56139/25]

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 issues guidance each year to schools regarding SNA reviews and the guidance for 2025/26 school year issued on the 12 September 2025. The SNA allocation review window outlined in these guidelines, from 15 September 2025 to 24 October 2025, is now open and relates to schools who believe they do not have sufficient SNAs to support their care needs at present.

In addition, a school can apply to the NCSE at any time during the school year, as in previous years, for a review where emerging or new care needs arise. Detailed information on the NCSE's SNA review process is published on the NCSE's . Each case is individually assessed and is based on the student profile of each school.

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

Following engagement from my department and NCSE the school has confirmed that it will now be fully open from Monday 13 October. The school undertook to inform the parents of this decision on Friday last.

The department and the NCSE will continue to engage with and support the school referred to by the Deputy to ensure that they can meet the needs of all the students in the school. The NCSE are on site visiting the school this week.