Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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551. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to clarify the SNA Review Process guidelines for 2025/26 published by the NCSE. in particular: the evidence or consultation informed the narrowed application window (15 September – 24 October) and the reason mid-year applications are not accommodated; the way in which the unification of SNA allocations across mainstream and special classes ensures that children with the highest needs, particularly in autism classes, continue to receive adequate support; the rationale for the current definitions of ‘complex care needs’ and ‘level 3 care needs’, and whether these definitions adequately reflect the reality of children with behavioural and high-support requirements; the training and support being provided to schools to implement the Relate document within the six-week review period; the safeguards which are in place to prevent reduction of SNA support due to procedural or bureaucratic reasons; and if she will consider revising the guidelines to ensure fair, flexible, and child-centred implementation. [62005/25]

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.

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

My department has been steadily building on the number of special needs assistants (SNAs) in our education system. There are now 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. This is the highest number ever. 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.

The NCSE issues guidance each year to schools regarding SNA reviews and the guidance for 2025/26 school year issued on the 12th September 2025.

It is important to clarify some of the issues 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. An emerging care need for example would be changing care needs in their existing student enrolment, newly identified care need or a new enrolment(s) with care needs.

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.

The NCSE have published a clarification document on the SNA review guidelines and it is available on the following link. www.ncse.ie/mainstream-and-special-school-sna-review .

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.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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552. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a school (details supplied) will be granted an additional autism class for 2026-2027. [62027/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Budget 2026 has provided funding for 3,000 new special educational places within our education system and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is currently examining where this provision is best placed for the 2026/27 school year.

In order to ensure new special classes can open as quickly as possible the NCSE prioritise working with medium and larger primary schools who do not already have a special class and have available accommodation to accommodate new special class. This approach maximises the use of existing space which can be reconfigured efficiently while also ensuring that new provision continues to be established. It also increases the number of schools with special classes providing parents with greater choice and reducing the distances that some children are travelling to access a special class place.

However, as in other years where schools have no available accommodation, particularly at post-primary level and there is known demand in a local area, my department will continue to provide additional classroom accommodation to provide necessary places.

In order to support the NCSE and forward planning my department published Circular 0039/2025. This circular informs school management and patrons of measures introduced to support forward planning and reiterates the need for parents to inform the NCSE that they are seeking a special educational placement for their child. An earlier date of 1 October was set for parents to do so.

This notification process will provide the NCSE with valuable information as to which children will continue to require a special class as they progress to post-primary level and details on students who require a place for the first time.

The earlier date will allow for earlier sanctioning of classes for the 2026/27 school year, and it is the aim of the NCSE to sanction the majority of new special classes by 31 December 2025.

The NCSE will have a clear picture of the local demand for special class places for the 2026/27 school year after they review and assess all of the information which has been provided through the parents' notification process which closed on 1 October.

Once the NCSE has fully collated and assessed this information, the NCSE will be in a position to engage with schools across the country to open new special classes. The NCSE will also have due regard to any vacant places in existing special classes in an area and any places that will become available through the normal movement of children leaving primary or post-primary school.

I would like to stress that the NCSE will continue to support all children made known to them after the October deadline also, however, it is important for planning purposes that we set an earlier timeframe for which the NCSE has as much local knowledge and detail as possible in order to plan what new provision is required.