Mayo TD welcomes government U-turn on SNA's but calls for Dáil statement

Aontú TD for Mayo Paul Lawless has called on the Minister for Education Hildegard Naughton to make a statement to the Dáil on the issue of SNAs.

Deputy Lawless said:

"I welcome the news that the government has paused their review of SNA allocations. What happened over the past week created chaos and confusion on the ground. Last week the Minister for Education took questions from myself and other TDs in the Dáil. During that contribution neither the senior nor junior Minister gave any indication that SNAs were going to be slashed. In fact, they said there was going to be an increase in SNAs. I was "assured" that 860 special education teachers, and 1,717 special needs assistants would be allocated well in advance of the commencement of the 2026/27 school year. They said there was record investment and no shortage of SNAs".

Deputy Lawless continued: "Then over the weekend we learned from the unions that SNAs were being let go, that there was almost a redefining what 'special needs' means so as to exclude a cohort of children from qualifying for an SNA.

"Parents and staff and schools were left in absolute limbo and confusion over what was happening. I think the timing of the story was very suspicious - it broke after the Dáil discussion. Did the NCSE delay the sending of these letters so it wouldn't dominate last Thursday's Dáil question session?"

"The senior Minister now needs to make a statement in the Dáil fully clarifying what is going on. The figures provided to me in the Dáil must be clarified - are we talking about 1,717 new SNAs before September or is that figure relating to the redeployment of existing SNAs? I was led to believe they were new posts, but now I'm questioning everything the Minister said in response to my question last week.

“I think for the sake of our hard-working SNAs, and the children, parents and teachers who they've bonded with and help so diligently, we need utter clarity on the situation. The pause is welcome, but a pause is not enough. We in Aontú believe the review should be thrown in the bin", concluded Lawless.