Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

First of all, we need to have some degree of objective assessment of what actually has happened in terms of investment in education. Investment in education has increased dramatically over the past number of years - of that, there is no question. Just go through the number of extra teachers in our education system over the past number of years, which is quite significant. We have had a sustained reduction in pupil-teacher ratios over the past years. We have had record increases in capitation grants to schools, most recently in the last budget.
In terms of special needs assistants, in 2020 there were 16,000 SNAs in our schools; in 2021, it went to 18,000; in 2022, it went to 19,000; in 2023, it went to 21,000; in 2024, it was close to 22,000; in 2025, it is 23,000; and by September of the next school year, it will be 25,000. That is not cuts and that is not a reduction in expenditure in education. That is expansion and an increase. Could we at least agree that? The issue then becomes the deployment of those special needs assistants to the children most in need. That is an overall increase. By September of 2026, we will have had an increase of 8,775 special needs assistants in our schools. This is a 54% increase. By any yardstick, that is a fairly dramatic and substantial increase.
Of course parallel with that, needs have increased and challenges have increased in our schools. With regard to the deployment, there should be regular reviews to make sure we are targeting the children most in need and that the children most in need get the optimal services. The idea that there would be no reviews, and I am sure the Deputy is not suggesting there should never be a review-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18