Children with the most complex needs in Donegal are losing essential support under the NESC's reviewed special needs assistants, SNA, review process and it comes at a real human cost. I personally reviewed the situation at Scoil Aodh Rua agus Nuala in Donegal town and what is going on there. There are children who rely on SNA supports to eat, to move and to communicate. These are their primary care needs and yet 2.5 SNAs are being cut from this school next September. It is far too much for this school to manage.

If SNAs are treated as part of the general allocation, the school is forced to choose who loses support - children with special classes or children in mainstream classes with complex needs. Either way, inclusion fails and the children are forced out of their communities into special needs schools.

The reduction sometimes is appropriate. I acknowledge that but this is not one of those times. Research shows best practice in law and that children with complex needs thrive in a stable, predictable and delivered educational environment within their own communities. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, ESPEN, Act 2004 guarantees that every child is entitled to appropriate education. Cutting essential supports is harmful and contrary to law.

I have written urgently to all the Ministers and the relevant agencies seeking an intervention in this. The reality is stark. If these cuts continue, schools will not be able to safely manage special needs classes. The SENO may technically instruct schools to open classes but the practical reality for schools is they cannot meet the children's needs and they cannot provide essential care.

This is not a threat. This is the reality that is going on on the ground. Children's safety, education and well-being are now at risk. These cuts undermine the inclusion and breach the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Ireland has signed up to.

I call for an urgent review, particularly of Scoil Aodh Rua agus Nuala in Donegal town because it is in a desperate situation and this review needs to be stopped and revisited immediately. I am asking the Taoiseach to intervene, that the 2.5 SNA cuts for this school in Donegal town be stopped and that the review and the process be looked at so that no child is left behind and that they can be educated within their communities.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he will be aware, I dealt with it earlier on a previous Leaders' question. It is important to make the point that no SNA is being removed from any school during this school year. Second, no SNA will lose their job. Those are two very important points.

There are no cuts to overall special needs assistants' numbers. By September next year, we will have approximately 24,900. That is close to 25,000. We had more than 23,000 coming into this year. The numbers grew by 45% over five years, so it has been expansion. The needs have grown. Demand has grown as well, and it is important to meet that.

So far, of the 580 reviews that took place, approximately 1%, it seems to me, of SNA posts nationally have been affected. We have 4,000 schools in our system. Approximately 190 have received letters indicating reductions. Approximately two thirds, or 68%, have either no change or an increase in their SNA allocation.

In the context of the school the Deputy referenced, the NCSE will engage with the school. The school should appeal because that is the process. If you feel you have been wronged or whatever, you appeal it. That allows a mechanism to revisit the decision of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to reduce the numbers in a given school. It is important that be done.

The Minister has paused the review. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, will engage intensively now to ensure that all the concerns raised - the Deputy has raised some - are fully understood and that we fully support children with additional needs in our schools.

That is the objective. Is é sin atá i gceist againn. Tá an méid SNAs ag méadú bliain i ndiaidh bliana, agus is maith an rud é sin. Tá an infheistíocht ag méadú chomh maith. Dar ndóigh, bíonn athruithe ann go rialta, mar a dúirt an Teachta. Tagann athruithe ar an scéal i scoileanna éasgúla agus is é sin an fáth a mbíonn athruithe maidir leis na SNAs agus na scoileanna ina mbeidh siad.

I understand what the Taoiseach is saying around the allocations and deployment but in Donegal, it is not practical. For example, if in Donegal you are deployed to somewhere within a certain radius, there are no spaces available. That will not help, and within these schools, these children will be left without the rapport or the relationship they have built up over the years with the SNA who was there to help them. These children in this school are not going out anywhere over the next couple years; they will still be there. There are primary care needs here and they have still been cut.

I ask the Taoiseach to review this school in Donegal town because we can see there is definitely something wrong. According to his own figures, 32% of schools are affected. If we are dealing with 32% of schools affected in the long run, what will that be next year and the year after? We have to make sure we are looking after children with primary needs and their care.

I said earlier the reviews should be regular to match resources to the needs of children, and new children will come into schools. We have about 4,000 schools with children who leave primary and go into second level, and children develop differently and so on. As the Deputy knows, the SNAs are allocated to the school, so the general number is allocated to the school. Obviously, within the context of the children in the school, additional needs assessments are made.

Part of the problem here is there probably has not been a review for several years and the result has been too severe in respect of some schools. As I said earlier, no school should lose six or four in any one year. Again, depending on the size of the school, and with Scoil Aodh Rua, 2.5 could be a significant hit to that school. I do not have the background and specifics. If an assessment is made by the NCSE that a certain school does not require the number of SNAs it had two or three years ago, it should not hit the school with a shock decision and that it is making the call to take out three or four. It should be done much more gradually.

That would be our approach, and I have communicated that to the Ministers and they agree with me on that and the NCSE. That is the way to proceed here. The Minister for Education and Youth is going to sit down with the NCSE to work this out. The NCSE and SENOs will then engage with the schools concerned to see what we can do.