Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 July 2026
108. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 383 of 30 June 2026, if she will consider granting an additional SNA to a school (details supplied) provisionally from 1 September 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52139/26]
View answerIn August 2022 due to the rapidly increasing arrival of Ukrainian and IPAS pupils a scheme of additional temporary special education supports was put in place to support schools with large Ukrainian/IPAS enrolments.
From the outset, the allocation of supports is based on graduated thresholds of Ukrainian/IPAS enrolments, and this remains the case today.
Schools where 15 or more Ukrainian/IPAS pupils are enrolled are allocated for SNA resources) based on a sliding scale maximum of 3 SNAs on a temporary basis.
The graduated allocation is based on the following table
|
No. of Ukrainian students enrolled |
Additional No. SNAs allocated |
|
15-29 |
0.5 |
|
30-35 |
1 |
|
36-45 |
1.5 |
|
46-54 |
2 |
|
55-64 |
2.5 |
|
65 |
3 |
This temporary allocation is reviewed ahead of each school term based on the enrolment thresholds and schools are advised where their enrolments meet the threshold.
The allocation approval letter issued each term clearly outlines to all schools who are entitled to additional temporary SNA resources based on enrolments numbers that the allocation ceased on a specific date at the end of the term.
In addition, the letter sent to the school for the first term of the 2025/26 school year outlined the following
It is important to note that these hours are allocated on a temporary basis only and the school should not create any permanent role on the basis of these temporary hours.
The hours are effective from 1st of September 2025 to 19th December 2025.
THIS TEMPORARY RESOURCE CEASES ON THE 19/12/25. ONLY SCHOOLS THAT QUALIFY FOR TEMPORARY RESOURCES FOR THE NEXT TERM WILL RECIEVE A LETTER OF CONFIRMATION CIRCA 2 WEEKS PRIOR TO END OF THE PRESENT TERM.
Where a school enrolment reduces below 15 the allocation ceases on the date outlined in the letter 19/12/2025.
The allocations to all schools will be reviewed in September 2026 and in case where a schools Ukrainian/IPAS enrolments increase to a relevant threshold they will be allocated the applicable resource before the end of September from then to the end of the term (Christmas 2026).
There has been ongoing engagement between the department and the school on the matter.
As the scheme is predicated on the actual enrolment data in a school at each review date it is therefore not possible to allocated on a temporary basis ahead of confirmed enrolments.
