Special Educational Needs

Thursday, 28 May 2026

Questions (91)

Barry Heneghan

Question:

91. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she is aware of the increasing pressure on schools due to the growing number of students requiring additional care and educational supports; whether her Department is satisfied that current special needs assistant allocations are meeting the needs of students and schools; the steps being taken to increase the number of SNAs available, particularly in schools experiencing significant demand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40810/26]

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Oral answers (6 contributions)

Deputy Barry Heneghan

Tá mé ag iarraidh ceist a chur ar an Aire Stáit faoin bhrú atá ar scoileanna i dtuaisceart Bhaile Átha Cliath. Is the Department satisfied that the current special needs assistant allocations meet the needs of students? There are a lot of schools I could mention that have been on to me, but in the context of this main question I will mention the Stapolin Education Together National School. Also, Gaelscoil Ghráinne Mhaol is operating with one special needs assistant. What is the DEIS status of St. Joseph's in Fairview? Parents have other children, brothers and sisters, in another school that has DEIS plus status and yet that school does not have it. What is the DEIS plus status of St. Francis Junior School in Dublin 17? I know there is a lot there so we can go back and forth.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I thank Deputy Heneghan for the tour of the schools in his constituency. I do take his point on this serious issue. I welcome the engagement by all Deputies and political figures on education, which is hugely important. It is important that we engage as fully as possible with schools, school communities and families.

The Government is strongly committed to supporting children with special educational needs to achieve their full potential and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver this objective. In 2026 there will be 24,896 special needs assistants in our mainstream classes, special classes and special schools. This represents an almost 46% increase since the 2020 school year. The SNA plays a key role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in the schools. As part of the annual budgetary process I will continue to pursue the resources required to support the care needs for pupils with additional SNA resources when required.

In February we confirmed that there would be no reductions to the special needs assistants for the school year 2026-27. All schools were reviewed by the NCSE and schools allocated additional resources will receive them in the upcoming school year. The SNA redeployment scheme, the SNA workforce development plan, and changes to a 2014 circular outlining the role of the SNA will be advanced before any further decisions are taken.

The NCSE has responsibility for ensuring that all additional SNA posts funded through budget 2026 are allocated to mainstream, special classes and special schools to meet the care needs in these sectors. In all cases any school that believes it has insufficient special needs assistant resources to support the needs of the pupils should contact the NCSE for an SNA review. If on completion of the SNA review it identifies that additional resources are required, they will be provided.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

The Minister of State will be aware that I will always mention the schools in north Dublin to him. With regard to St. Francis Junior School, it had 165 registered instead of 166. In this school 40% of the current students are from the Traveller community. They cannot lose a mainstream teacher. It will put extreme pressure on them. The Minister of State will be aware, because I am always bringing it up, that the Stapolin Educate Together school needs to have that modular building sanctioned. It has the ability to do brilliant things. I thank the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton, for her response to the parliamentary question today relating to Gaelcholáiste Reachrann. The addition of those two special educational needs classes is needed. It is great that the data has been shown in that area, and the parents are happy, but I would love to see that school moving forward. The response to the parliamentary question said that it would be moving and progressed.

The current SNA review for Gaelscoil Ghráinne Mhaol took place more than five months ago yet the school has received no formal communication of the outcome. In the meantime, staff are being left to manage impossible circumstances with one SNA.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

Reviews are ongoing and we will have further engagement, along with the schools the Deputy mentioned. Over recent weeks we have announced a number of inclusive special classes as well, which is 47 in total. Of those, 32 are at post-primary and 15 are primary schools. These have been welcomed by the school communities where we are providing the resources. The school communities should look at what we have done in other schools as well because this is a hugely important and significant policy change which is being welcomed across the school communities.

The Government is continuing to invest hugely in SNAs and in ensuring we have SNAs right across the school communities, be they special schools, special classes or in mainstream classes. The value of the special needs assistant and the role they play in enabling students to reach their full potential, and in some cases to allow them to engage within the education system, is hugely important to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and to me. We understand that. A lot of work has been done on the workforce development plan, the circular and the redeployment. If there are existing schools that the Deputy needs us to look at, we can certainly do so. I can assure the Deputy that we are growing the number of SNAs into the future.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. Tá mé an-sásta é sin a chloisteáil. Tá na ceithre scoil sin an-tábhachtach. Bím i gcónaí ag cur ceisteanna parlaiminte agus ríomhphost chuig oifig an Aire Stáit, ach ní bhíonn na freagraí sásúil. Níl siad maith go leor. The parents are exhausted from having to battle continuously for assessments, classroom space and SNAs. I welcome the addition of many SNA posts and additional classrooms but these schools need to be looked at and their DEIS status needs to be examined. Every child in north Dublin deserves these schools. They need the support as it will affect their development and their future opportunities. I am calling on the Minister of State to urgently engage with all of the schools I mentioned today. The staffing and the infrastructure required needs to be delivered without further delay. The children of north Dublin and across Ireland deserve and are entitled to better. I appreciate the engagement that the Minister of State has given so far and I welcome that he has visited these schools, particularly St. Michael's House in Baldoyle. They were very grateful for the Minister of State's visit, and for the compassion and information he gave to them, along with the understanding of it. I really welcome the work the Minister of State will do with all of the Dublin Bay North TDs on that matter.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I thank the Deputy. As I say of all Deputies across the House, the engagement they have with the education system is crucially important. We are able to have very informed debates here in Leinster House with Deputies' contributions. Deputy Heneghan mentioned a number of schools. We will certainly follow up on them. We are acutely aware of the challenges in the context of the SNA role. We have invested. There are 46% more SNAs since 2020, which is only six years ago. We have grown the number of SNAs. We are committed to having more SNAs and we will have a considerable amount of SNAs, literally thousands more, over the next number of years. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I are acutely aware of and understand the role the SNA provides and we will fight at all levels to make sure we have funding for SNAs into the future.

Questions Nos. 92 and 93 taken with Written Answers.