Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

On decisions that were made earlier this year, there will be no change. There will be no reduction in the number of SNAs who will be in school communities from 2025-26 to 2026-27. We are committed to growing the number of SNAs because we see the role of the SNA as a huge enabler in providing specialised education in school communities. They have contributed enormously to allow a child with special educational needs to reach their full potential within the education system and the work that is being done by the special needs assistants across the school communities, in collaboration with the teachers and school leaderships, is second to none. We understand that at ministerial level, across the Department and in the NCSE as well.
It is important that we are communicating our information and our story across the school communities because nothing can be more frustrating than not understanding the information. I take the point on that but we are communicating right across the system. A huge volume of work has been going on for a number of years and is being brought to a conclusion over the next number of weeks in terms of the workforce development plan, the redeployment plan and the circular.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-28