The Government is under pressure to clarify future special needs assistant (SNA) allocations as it insists there will be no “cliff edge” for schools facing cuts.
Minister of State with responsibility for special education Michael Moynihan told The Irish Times on Wednesday that any reduction will be a “gradual coming off”, adding: “we can’t have a cliff edge”.
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.
Moynihan said that he and Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton, alongside the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), wanted to “bring certainty to it as soon as is possible”, but declined to be drawn on an exact timeline for the pause or when a final decision on allocations would be made.
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“What we are trying to do [is] make sure the supports within the education system are directed to the child,” he said. “That is the aim of the department and the NCSE.”
The Department of Education said in a statement that no further letters on reviews would issue “until there has been engagement with the NCSE and re-engagement with schools after the midterm break” – a week-long closure that ends next Monday for most schools.
“For 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.”
Moynihan said that schools which had been told their allocation would go up would see that reflected in next year’s SNA allocations. “Schools that have identified that they have extra need within the school community, they will be getting them,” he said.
A circular on redeployment of SNAs, seen as an important part of the process, is also due in the coming weeks.
Social Democrats education spokeswoman Jennifer Cummins called for an overhaul of the reviewing process: “I’m glad they’re pausing [reviews] but they need to not pause, they need to stop, take stock and move on.”
In the Dáil, the issue was raised at Leader’s Questions. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik told Taoiseach Micheál Martin that a national increase in the number of SNAs offers little reassurance to individual schools losing posts and children losing support.
Bacik welcomed the Government decision to pause its review of SNA supports following a public outcry over letters sent to schools by the NCSE “abruptly informing them” they had surplus SNAs.
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, “a fairly dramatic and substantial increase”.
He said there should be “regular reviews to make sure that we’re targeting the children most in need”.
He said “the mistake made here is that there hasn’t been a comprehensive review for quite a number of years”.
The NCSE “endeavouring to correct that in one year, in my view, is not to correct approach”.
“That’s why it has been paused,” he said.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said following the “pause” in the review schools “have 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.”
“Children, 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.”
But the Taoiseach said “the fallback position from Opposition all the time is ‘more, more, more, more’ ” without analysis. “We should look at optimal deployment of all resources in our education system and at outcomes.”
Meanwhile, the issue was discussed at private meetings of Government TDs and Senators on Wednesday evening.
Moynihan met fellow Fianna Fáil TDs, where “very strong feelings” were said to be aired by those present, and the argument was made that the “only way to go” was to deliver extra funding.
Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Fine Gael parliamentary party there was a need for a “proper workforce plan” for SNAs and that clarity on their redeployment must be brought about quickly.
