Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Dublin Central

The Taoiseach seems to not accept or understand that schools in any event have been struggling and are under pressure. If there is an excess of SNAs across the school communities of this land, I certainly have not seen it. I think all of our colleagues would confirm that if you go from school to school and principal to principal, you will see that they are tearing out their hair out as they try to do the best for the children under the most enormous pressure. Now the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, is proposing cuts. Yes, cuts. Here is what it is going to mean: Fossa National School near Killarney will be down four SNAs; Johnstown Boys National School in Dublin, which I mentioned, will be down five SNAs; and Scoil Barra in Ballincollig in Cork will be down two SNAs. That is just a small sample. We could go on and on. That is merely a snapshot of what is in store. Now it seems that the Government is going to review the review. It is talking about a pause. That is of absolutely no use to anyone. In fact, I would argue that it will add to the anxiety.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17