Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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230. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there is any assistance her Department can provide in securing an SNA post in a school with relevant qualifications. [18232/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

By the end of the year there will be over 20,800 special educational teachers and 23,400 special needs assistants (SNAs) in our mainstream classes, special classes and special schools. This will mean we will have over 44,000 teachers and SNAs working in our education system committed to supporting and nurturing children with special educational needs, enabling them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

Allocations of special education teaching (SET) posts for the next school year have recently been provided to schools and SNA allocations will be confirmed by the NCSE to schools in the coming weeks. The NCSE also publish SET and SNA allocations on their website: www.ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations.

The NCSE continue to prioritise the full allocation of the additional 1,600 SNA posts provided in Budget 2025 to schools to ensure that those children with the highest level of need get the highest level of support.

As the NCSE allocated SNAs to schools, the board of management as the employer, is responsible for filling the vacancy. The decision on whether to employ a full time SNA to fill a full-time post or to employ an equivalent number of part time SNAs rests with the employer.

Principals/board of managements then deploy SNAs within schools to meet the care support requirements of the children enrolled whom SNA support has been allocated. This provides schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.

If a school feels like it has insufficient SNA support to meet the needs of its students an application can be submitted to the NCSE requesting a review of its allocation. Detailed information on the NCSE's SNA review process is published on the NCSE's website. Each case is individually assessed and is based on the student profile of each school.

My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.