Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Eoghan Kenny (LAB), Cork North-Central

This is the second time today that I have spoken about SNA reviews. I raised the matter earlier with the Tánaiste on Leaders' Questions. The Minister of State knows that this is the most pressing issue right now. It is going to affect so many students across the country. I have lost count of the number of schools that have contacted me. Later, I will be meeting online with parents, students, principals, SNAs and members of trade unions in relation to what this SNA cut involves and what the pause actually means. We do not know what the pause means. Leaving people in some sort of limbo is not acceptable because it allows a dark cloud to remain over schools. Those who have received letters saying that they are going to get increases do not know whether they will go ahead and those who received letters saying they were going to lose SNAs do not know if they will actually lose them. The Minister of State is the line Minister, but there is also a senior Minister who has a budget for this. Is the senior Minister pulling her weight in respect of this issue?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19