I want to take up the issue of a child who is registered blind and who is due to start at Rampark National School in north Louth in September. The child can navigate around quite well but he is sensitive to lighting levels and they greatly affect him. It has been stated that he needs an SNA from a health and safety perspective. The principal of the school says communication with the NCSE has been incredibly difficult and the school has been given a hard “No” and told there will be no additional support. The school has been told to use the allocation that it has. It has promised the parents it will do everything it possibly can, but this situation needs to be looked at. There is an issue with SNA allocations and there are a number of other issues in ensuring we have appropriate places, but I ask that this particular issue be looked at and that there be an overall look at SNA allocations and appropriate places.

I thank the Deputy. I do not have the details of the individual case. The model of general allocation is one that was favoured by school bodies and principals when it was originally introduced, giving more flexibility to schools to deal with the numbers of children they may have in respect of additional needs.

I introduced the SNA system back in the late nineties when I was Minister for education and we had no SNAs in mainstream schools. By September, we will have 23,179 SNAs in the country. That is double the number of SNAs that were in our schools ten years ago. This year’s budget provides for about 1,600 additional special needs assistants. There is no cutting back on this. It is also the case that the number of children identifying with additional needs is growing. If the Deputy sends the details, we can forward them to the NCSE and see what it can do in respect of this particular case.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Taoiseach.

I thank the Taoiseach for taking this question. In the last few days of the school year, Gareth Heagney, the principal of Sixmilebridge national school in County Clare sent a letter out to parents. The school has around 400 pupils, so is quite a large school, and for the last few years it has only had three SNAs even though the children in the school have needs that far exceed that allocation. Indeed, children who will enrol in junior infants in September will also have additional needs. The school applied for an exceptional review to the NCSE. It was going to have that review on 16 June but it was cancelled. It now faces the prospect of starting the new school year, going back on 28 August, without having additional SNAs. The school is quite worried about that. The Taoiseach is a big advocate for SNA support in schools and supporting all children equally in the school environment, but it is daunting for the school that it faces a new school year without an additional SNA allocation. I ask for the Taoiseach’s intervention on this matter.

I thank Deputy Crowe for raising this issue. The National Council for Special Education, I understand, has advised that Sixmilebridge national school has resubmitted a previous special needs assistant review request, which now includes additional new junior infants due to start in September 2025. The NCSE has confirmed that the SNA review will be completed and the outcome notified to the school in advance of the new school year. It is important that that would happen.

I gave the figures in an earlier reply but, by September, we will have 23,179 special needs assistants. When the school receives its SNA allocation from the NCSE, it may recruit two SNA posts as it would have done in previous years, so there is no change to the recruitment process. I understand the particular issues facing the school in terms of its expansion and growth. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, have announced work is under way on a redeployment scheme for special needs assistants, which will be in place in the 2025-26 school year.