I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. There is growing alarm and confusion among parents, teachers and special needs assistants across the country after it was revealed that at least 194 schools had been told they would lose SNA posts from September, with further reviews ongoing.

In the past hour, we have heard of a backtrack from Government as it came under ferocious public pressure. It appears that the Department was reverting to a crude and narrow interpretation of care needs, restricting SNA access largely to physical supports. As the Taoiseach knows, SNAs support children with a range of needs, such as emotional regulation, attention, communication, participation and belonging in school life. Without that support, many children simply cannot access education or reach their full potential. This chaos from the Department follows the recent astonishing decision to shift key elements of identifying special educational needs away from clinicians and towards teachers under the so-called assessment of need reforms, a move made without consultation and which gave rise to bewilderment and uncertainty across the sector. This detached and chaotic educational planning spreadsheet is messing with people's lives. Can the Taoiseach confirm that all the schools that have been told they will lose SNAs will keep them while the process is paused?

To conclude, Deputy.

How long will that take?

I have dealt with this extensively in the House. There are 4,000 schools in our system. By the start of the next school year, there will be up to 25,000 SNAs. As I said earlier, there has been a 45% increase in the number of SNAs over five years. I would caution against the breadth and the range of services the Deputy says SNAs should be obliged to provide. We need to be very targeted in our approach. The children who need SNAs the most should have them allocated to them.

The danger with mission creep is that sometimes the child most in need does not get the attention that he or she requires and deserves. We are bringing in other therapies, initially into special schools. We then want to spread that into mainstream schools. That is nothing to do with the SNA situation.

There should be regular reviews of SNAs to make sure the resource is targeted properly. I am sure nobody could object to that. The difficulty here as a result of the review the NCSE initiated last October - approximately 500 have been completed - is that the impact on some schools is too severe. This is in terms of the new school year, from September of this year.

How long will the review take?