{"id":305333,"date":"2026-02-19T02:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305333\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T02:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:51:09","slug":"government-insists-there-will-be-no-cliff-edge-for-schools-facing-sna-cuts-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305333\/","title":{"rendered":"Government insists there will be no \u2018cliff edge\u2019 for schools facing SNA cuts \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government is under pressure to clarify future special needs assistant (SNA) allocations as it insists there will be no \u201ccliff edge\u201d for schools facing cuts.<\/p>\n

Minister of State with responsibility for special education Michael Moynihan told The Irish Times on Wednesday that any reduction will be a \u201cgradual coming off\u201d, adding: \u201cwe can\u2019t have a cliff edge\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the Opposition is demanding the Coalition outline the next steps after it paused a review of SNA allocations that saw almost 200 schools notified some of their assistant roles would be reduced.<\/p>\n

Moynihan said that he and Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton<\/a>, alongside the National Council for Special Education<\/a> (NCSE), wanted to \u201cbring certainty to it as soon as is possible\u201d, but declined to be drawn on an exact timeline for the pause or when a final decision on allocations would be made. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are trying to do [is] make sure the supports within the education system are directed to the child,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the aim of the department and the NCSE.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Education<\/a> said in a statement that no further letters on reviews would issue \u201cuntil there has been engagement with the NCSE and re-engagement with schools after the midterm break\u201d \u2013 a week-long closure that ends next Monday for most schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those schools who have received review outcomes, whether increase or decrease, the process is paused, and we will engage with these schools following further consideration. Schools who have lodged appeals should continue to engage with that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moynihan said that schools which had been told their allocation would go up would see that reflected in next year\u2019s SNA allocations. \u201cSchools that have identified that they have extra need within the school community, they will be getting them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Pausing SNA review buys Government time to sooth tensions but leaves schools in limboOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A circular on redeployment of SNAs, seen as an important part of the process, is also due in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n

Social Democrats education spokeswoman Jennifer Cummins called for an overhaul of the reviewing process: \u201cI\u2019m glad they\u2019re pausing [reviews] but they need to not pause, they need to stop, take stock and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the D\u00e1il, the issue was raised at Leader\u2019s Questions. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik told Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin that a national increase in the number of SNAs offers little reassurance to individual schools losing posts and children losing support.<\/p>\n

Bacik welcomed the Government decision to pause its review of SNA supports following a public outcry over letters sent to schools by the NCSE \u201cabruptly informing them\u201d they had surplus SNAs.<\/p>\n

Martin said SNA numbers had risen from 16,000 in 2020 to 23,000 in 2025 and there would be 25,000 by September this year, which was a 54 per cent increase, \u201ca fairly dramatic and substantial increase\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said there should be \u201cregular reviews to make sure that we\u2019re targeting the children most in need\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cthe mistake made here is that there hasn\u2019t been a comprehensive review for quite a number of years\u201d.<\/p>\n

The NCSE \u201cendeavouring to correct that in one year, in my view, is not to correct approach\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it has been paused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"SocialSocial Democrats leader Holly Cairns. Photograph: Sam Boal\/Collins <\/p>\n

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said following the \u201cpause\u201d in the review schools \u201chave no idea if those cuts are still happening. Schools who are being told they are being allocated additional SNAs do not know if these increases are going ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren, SNAs, parents and principals are all in limbo. All they know is there will be a review into the original review. Nobody knows how long this second review will take or what the criteria for it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Taoiseach said \u201cthe fallback position from Opposition all the time is \u2018more, more, more, more\u2019 \u201d without analysis. \u201cWe should look at optimal deployment of all resources in our education system and at outcomes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the issue was discussed at private meetings of Government TDs and Senators on Wednesday evening. <\/p>\n

Moynihan met fellow Fianna F\u00e1il TDs, where \u201cvery strong feelings\u201d were said to be aired by those present, and the argument was made that the \u201conly way to go\u201d was to deliver extra funding.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris told the Fine Gael parliamentary party there was a need for a \u201cproper workforce plan\u201d for SNAs and that clarity on their redeployment must be brought about quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government is under pressure to clarify future special needs assistant (SNA) allocations as it insists there will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15049,6466,895,42,2989,21010,3657,143905,1843,143637,43,1419,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-305333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-dail-eireann","9":"tag-department-of-education","10":"tag-fianna-fail","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-hildegarde-naughton","13":"tag-holly-cairns","14":"tag-ivana-bacik","15":"tag-michael-moynihan","16":"tag-micheal-martin","17":"tag-national-council-for-special-education","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-social-democrats","20":"tag-top-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topnews","23":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}