An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
============================================================

Liam Quaide (SD), Cork East

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. There is growing alarm and confusion among parents, teachers and special needs assistants across the country after it was revealed that at least 194 schools had been told they would lose SNA posts from September, with further reviews ongoing.
In the past hour, we have heard of a backtrack from Government as it came under ferocious public pressure. It appears that the Department was reverting to a crude and narrow interpretation of care needs, restricting SNA access largely to physical supports. As the Taoiseach knows, SNAs support children with a range of needs, such as emotional regulation, attention, communication, participation and belonging in school life. Without that support, many children simply cannot access education or reach their full potential. This chaos from the Department follows the recent astonishing decision to shift key elements of identifying special educational needs away from clinicians and towards teachers under the so-called assessment of need reforms, a move made without consultation and which gave rise to bewilderment and uncertainty across the sector. This detached and chaotic educational planning spreadsheet is messing with people's lives. Can the Taoiseach confirm that all the schools that have been told they will lose SNAs will keep them while the process is paused?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

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