In response to a question I put to him a number of months ago regarding autism supports and services for children in my constituency, the Taoiseach said he was of the view that many of these services should be provided through schools, and I agree. That being the case, why are so many schools in Dublin South-West being denied additional special needs assistants, SNAs, despite a clearly identified need? I have been contacted by many schools in my constituency, such as Firhouse Educate Together, Cnoc Mhuire Senior School in Killinarden and Scoil Aoife Community National School in Citywest, to name but a few, which have all been denied additional SNA allocation by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, despite significant evidence of need being submitted and despite recommendations by special educational needs organisers, SENOs, who carried out the reviews. I would like to clarify why so many schools in Dublin South-West and around the country are being denied the additional SNAs they desperately need. Is there in effect a recruitment freeze in place?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. SNAs are an integral part of schools in supporting children and I acknowledge the work they do. By the end of this year, we will have more SNAs than we have ever had before. There will be more than 23,000 SNAs, including the 1,600 additional SNAs provided for in last year's budget. They are allocated through the NCSE and that is based on recommendations by SENOs who look at the needs of the entire school, as opposed to individual children. As the Deputy will be aware, in recent weeks, schools were written to by the NCSE highlighting the allocations they would receive. Schools that are to see a reduction will not see it until next year when we have a redeployment scheme in place to make sure we provide stability and clarity for SNAs and schools. I am aware that some schools received an increase in their SNA allocation while for others the allocations remained the same. It is important that it is done through the NCSE and is based on the needs of individual schools. A further increase in SNA allocations is something I will work towards with my colleagues through the budget negotiations.