{"id":314597,"date":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/314597\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","slug":"extra-e19m-allocated-for-special-needs-assistants-this-year-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/314597\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra \u20ac19m allocated for special needs assistants this year \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An extra \u20ac19 million will be spent on special needs assistants (SNAs)<\/a> this year to ensure there are no cuts to existing service provision in schools, the Government has announced.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued late last night, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton and Minister of State for Special Education Michael Moynihan confirmed there will be no reductions of SNAs for the 2026\/2027 school year after a meeting with the Taoiseach, T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers at Government Buildings.<\/p>\n

The Government last week decided to pause a controversial review of SNA allocations<\/a> following widespread criticism from teachers, parents and unions. <\/p>\n

Government backbenchers, under pressure from parents and schools, were critical of the proposed reallocation of posts in some schools.<\/p>\n

The U-turn came after the National Council for Special Education<\/a> (NCSE) contacted almost 200 schools indicating their allocations were being reduced.<\/p>\n

In a new statement on Monday night, the Department of Education said Coalition leaders had agreed all schools that had been reviewed by the council and allocated additional resources will receive them in the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

The funding for the new posts will not come from existing budgetary allocations, but will instead be new money allocated by the Department of Public Expenditure.<\/p>\n

However, it was agreed that a redeployment scheme and plan for SNAs will be advanced before any further decisions are taken. Once these are agreed and published, the NCSE can begin reviews of supports to schools for the 2027\/2028 academic year, the department said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important that we had to stop and listen to the concerns of the school community, parents and SNAs,\u201d Naughton told reporters.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI\u2019m not happy with the sequencing of events here, where the redeployment scheme was not published, it was advanced, it was near finalisation, but it needed to be explained to SNAs, because this is actually positive for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve listened, and that\u2019s why it is important to put a hold on this process, to listen to the concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to bring everyone with us and I want to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said that while reviews had been regular since the SNA system was introduced in the 1990s, they had not taken place since the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cYou can\u2019t impose, in my view, substantial reductions in any one given year, notwithstanding that the majority were one or two, but in some cases you have schools losing up to four SNAs, and that\u2019s a big hit to a school.\u201d<\/p>\n

F\u00f3rsa trade union\u2019s head of education policy, Andy Pike, welcomed the allocation of an additional \u20ac19 million but said the review \u201cshould never have happened\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Morning Ireland, Pike said there was a need to know why the NCSE \u201cdid what they did\u201d.<\/p>\n

Any change in the criteria that determines the need for SNAs in schools needed to be negotiated and agreed, he said. <\/p>\n

Pike said the Government U-turn was \u201ca sticking plaster\u201d for the next 12 months \u201cwhile the Government gets its act together\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Here\u2019s what the rapid U-turn on special needs assistants tells us about this GovernmentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s education spokesman Eoghan Kenny said \u201con the face of it\u201d the decision was positive. <\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies who feared losing vital support for their children will feel some relief. Schools that faced uncertainty can breathe slightly easier. But we cannot simply move on as if this never happened,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that the issue has not been resolved. They have simply kicked the can down the road,\u201d said Kenny. \u201cThe Government are buying time and hoping this issue will be forgotten about by the academic year 2027 to 2028. Schools still need clarity. SNAs still need certainty. Families still need reassurance that supports will match the real needs of children in classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An extra \u20ac19 million will be spent on special needs assistants (SNAs) this year to ensure there are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-314597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314597","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=314597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}