Written answers
Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Department of Education and Skills
National Council for Special Education
Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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624. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has engaged with the National Council for Special Education on the potential implications of the new SNA guidelines for children with disabilities who no longer qualify for direct SNA support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58692/25]
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 full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) issues guidance each year to schools regarding SNA reviews and the guidance for 2025/26 school year issued on the 12 September 2025.
It is important to clarify some of the concerns raised since publication of the guidelines.
The process for allocating SNAs has been in place since 2014 and is not changing this year. There has been no freeze on SNAs, in fact the number of SNAs in our schools has increased by 43% in the last 5 years alone.
Schools were issued with their allocations for the 2025/26 school year in June and the SNA review window from 15 September to 7 November relates to schools who believe they do not have sufficient SNAs to support their care needs at present.
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.
The NCSE has written to all schools since the publication of the guidelines to clarify that a school can request a review during the school year and not just in the review period set out in the guidelines.
The following are the reasons for the timeline of reviews contained in the guidance:
- Supports the earlier announcement of allocations for the 2026/27 school year to align with the release of the annual staffing schedule.
- Management bodies, staff representative bodies, schools and SNA’s have all requested the department to ensure that SNA allocations issue earlier each year and ideally should align with the general staffing allocation in February each year.
- Supports the SNA workforce by giving them early clarity on their roles.
- Facilitates the SNA Redeployment Scheme.
New special classes continue to be supported with additional SNAs each time a new class opens, this has not changed. The NCSE guidelines set out the number of SNAs per each category of special class and there is no change to those baseline allocations.
Any school who has concerns about the level of their SNA allocation should contact their local special education needs organiser. This has always been the case and remains today.
The NCSE assesses the level of need within the school as a whole and this is critical to ensure that the care needs of the entire school are identified and that the school is resourced to meet this identified need. There continues to be separate allocations for mainstream and special classes in individual schools.
When the NCSE completes the SNA review and if additional SNA support is identified as being required it will be provided. This has always been the case.
The NCSE carried out a record number of reviews in 2025 to ensure that children who most needed SNA support could access it. This will continue for 2025/26 school year.
I want to assure you that the department and the NCSE, through all of our policy and guidance such as resource allocations, take a child centred focus and approach to ensure that all children in our schools with special education care needs are provided with a supportive environment and the resources needed to help them develop and be prepared for life after school.
The NCSE has written to all schools since the publication of the guidelines to clarify these and other concerns.
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