Minister for Education Deputy Hildegarde Naughton has confirmed that there will be no cuts to Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in Irish schools in the 2026/27 academic year following outcry over plans for reductions in almost 200 schools.
As she addressed the Dáil on Tuesday, the Education Minister was accused of attacking the vulnerable, and of having “severely attacked” SNAS, parents, pupils and families prior to carrying out a “u-turn.”
It comes as it was revealed that the Government has allocated an additional €19 million for special needs assistants (SNAs) after the controversy.
Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins said that what had happened over the past few weeks regarding special needs assistants had been “nothing short of disgraceful.” He claimed that people-power, rather than common sense from the Government, stopped the cuts.
“Families, schools and SNAs were thrown into turmoil because the National Council for Special Education sent out letters telling up to 200 schools that they would lose SNA support next year,” said the Cork politician.
He said that in some cases, schools were staring down the loss of half of their entire SNA team, “a blow no community could possibly absorb.”
“It was not common sense from the Government that stopped these cuts. It was the people – the parents, SNAs, teachers and communities who stood up. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions and protests were being organised up and down the country.
“The pressure became too big, and only then did the Government finally blink and pull the handbrake. Now we are told that no school will lose an SNA in September and that an additional €19 million in funding will be provided to protect those posts. That is welcome but, if we are honest, this is an embarrassing, last-minute U-turn that should never have been needed in the first place.”
Deputy Collins read out an email received from a parent concerned about their primary school aged child. The child, a boy aged six, had been availing of the SNA service for the last two years at their local primary school.
“I find the prospect of reducing the very necessary numbers of assistants in future disgraceful,” said the parent. “My son who’s now aged six has been within the catchment of the special needs programme since he began primary school and has flourished with the help of an already under pressure service.
“Over the last two years, we have seen our son grow up in a system where he now looks forward to attending school in the morning as he is being equipped with the necessary skills to interact with students, teachers and parents alike. This has been a godsend for both my wife and I.
“To see my son benefit from the little extra attention that is most certainly needed on a daily basis has been eye-opening as to the benefits of the service. The benefits of this are making and retaining friends, coping under pressure, with social interactions, emotional support and regulation, academic performance and general mental health and well-being.
“These are but a few of the benefits that we as parents see on the most superficial level and are not yet aware of the long-term benefits that this will most certainly have on our son but are confident that the benefits will be massive. I’m asking you to help get the government to reassess and reconsider the proposed actions for the benefit of Ireland’s future generations.”
The TD said the issue concerned a generation of children that the Minister “cannot and must not let fall between the cracks of society.”
“SNAs do not constitute another luxury. They are essential. They are the difference between a child getting through the school day with dignity and support or being left behind. Anyone who works with SNAs, especially in rural Ireland, knows the enormous weight they carry. This should never have been treated as a line item that one can cut on a spreadsheet, yet that is exactly what happened,” the TD added.
He was among TDs to point out that a pause is “not a fix”- adding that the framework behind SNA allocation is outdated and unworkable, and is leaving families “in constant fear that their support will be taken away year after year.”
“The Government should not congratulate itself on reversing a mistake it should never have made. It should fix the system, scrap the broken allocation model and give schools and families the certainty they deserve, not reviews, pauses or panicked letters landing on principals’ desks,” he said.
It comes as SNAs, unions and parents say they fear the measure is simply stalling coming to a real solution, urging the Government to engage with stakeholders on issues relating to special education.
‘SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY IS A NATIONAL SCANDAL’
Peadar Tóibín welcomed the “u-turn” on SNA cuts.
“The Government has spent the last few weeks trying to convince us that cutting 190 SNA posts was an administrative adjustment and today this Government made a U Turn on its decision to remove SNAs from a number of schools across the country,” the TD said on Tuesday.
“The reality for special education in this country is a national scandal. We have a system that doesn’t support children; it battles them.
“If you remember, only a few months ago, parents were forced to sleep outside this House in protest to demand their child’s right to an education. Families who had been locked out of the education system, whose children received up to 60 rejection letters from schools, children who applied at the age of 4 to start school and by the age of 6 had still not secured a school place.
“The State failed in its most basic, constitutional duty to provide a school place for those children.
“And what was the reward for their struggle? Once they finally kicked down the door and got their child into a classroom, the Department of Education’s first instinct was to pull the rug out from under them by slashing SNA support. It is a special kind of cruelty to give a child a seat at the table and then take away the support they need to sit in it.
“The State has spent twenty-two years using the non-commencement of the EPSEN Act as a shield against its own responsibilities. Section 2 isn’t an aspiration; it is a mandate that these children shall be educated in an inclusive environment.
“By withdrawing SNA support, you make that environment impossible. You are effectively carrying out a back-door repeal of their rights telling these children that their place in a mainstream classroom is ‘conditional’ on a Department spreadsheet rather than their legal entitlement.
“The State has spent twenty-two years using the non-commencement of the EPSEN Act as a shield against its own responsibilities. You have effectively created a system of legislative purgatory,” the Aontú leader added.
“You were happy to commence the parts of the EPSEN Act 2004 that established the NCSE, the bureaucracy, but you have spent two decades refusing to commence the parts that give children a statutory right to an assessment of need and an Individual Education Plan.
“The government announced their plan to cut SNAs in certain schools like a wreaking ball last week. They did it without engagement with teachers, SNAs parents or children. It displayed ignorance and ineptitude.
“We need a real debate on the issues of SNAs and classroom assistants. We need a discussion about the threshold for special classes and special schools. There is a debate between tailored education for children and inclusion. This must be evidence based and it must be balance here.”