Will the Taoiseach clarify whether a recruitment freeze has been put in place by the Department of Education in regard to special needs assistant, SNA, provision? I had a conversation with a primary school principal last night in my home town of Mallow in which she informed me that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, sanctioned 1.83 SNA positions for her school last Tuesday. The next day, the special educational needs organiser, SENO, rang the principal to tell her that a directive from the Department has outlined that all positions will not be filled until at least September 2025. That leaves the school two SNAs short even though those posts have been sanctioned by the NCSE. Will the Taoiseach clarify whether there is a recruitment freeze on SNA provision in the Department of Education?

My understanding is that the numbers have grown exponentially. For this school year, the numbers have again increased very significantly in terms of SNAs generally. There are close to 23,500 special needs assistants in our school system right now. These are enormous numbers. The increases have been quite dramatic over the past number of years. I will check in respect of the specifics of the school the Deputy raised.