David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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82. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the provision of special needs assistants in schools in County Waterford. [57739/25]

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.

My department has been steadily building the level of SNA support in our education system. This school year there will be over 23,000 SNAs allocated to schools, working in our education system committed to supporting and nurturing children with special educational needs, enabling them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential. Budget 2026 provides for a further 1,717 SNA posts which will bring the total number of SNAs to close to 25,000 by the end of 2026.

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.

The NCSE has published the SNA allocations for the 2025/26 school year. For ease of reference these allocations are broken down by school type and are available on the NCSE's www.ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations

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.