Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-30
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Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and giving us this opportunity to discuss it on the floor of the House. The NCSE allocation and review processes are essential to ensure that SNA support is provided where it is most needed. An appropriate appeal mechanism is an important part of the review process, and this has always been the case. I fully appreciate that schools need to be given whatever information needed in order to put forward a thorough appeal. If schools are not satisfied with the outcome of a SNA review, they can then submit the appeal. As I said, details on how to do that are available online. The NCSE is available to support schools and discuss the deployment of SNA resources allocated to support their students.
With regard to the appeal, it might be helpful to outline some of what is taken into account in terms of the rationale. Special education needs organisers engage with schools, including school leaders, teachers and SNAs, and a national review panel reviews decisions to ensure consistency across the country. Among the factors taken into account are changes in student numbers, changes in individual care needs and students moving from primary to post-primary schools. Sometimes, those factors form part of the rationale. While I do not know the specific details in the case of St. Aidan’s Parish School, the information should have been made available to it in a timely fashion.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-30