I welcome the Government's record investment in special education, which now stands at €3 billion, up 58% since 2020. The additional SNAs coming into our schools and the extra capacity is making a real and positive difference for many children and their families. However, over the last few days the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has proposed significant cuts in some schools, like Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys National School in Johnstown in my constituency. The school has been notified of a reduction in its SNAs from nine to 3.83 - a cut of over 57% in a school with 387 kids, including 55 with identified additional care needs. The school has outlined the potential impact on pupil safety, medical supports and inclusive provision. There is an appeal process currently under way, but there is real anxiety in the school community, as the Taoiseach can imagine. The redeployment arrangements for affected SNAs have yet to be fully understood or set out. Will the Taoiseach engage with the Minister for Education to clarify the current status of the NCSE's decision to ensure allocations fully reflect the real care needs of those pupils, provide clarity and ensure no school suffers inappropriate cuts?

We are obviously talking about the next school year. As I said earlier in respect of Our Lady of Good Counsel, no school should lose close to six SNAs in one fell swoop or one decision. I have communicated that to the NCSE. I said it to both Ministers as well when we discussed this. Everyone acknowledges that it is too severe an impact. It is probably because there have not been regular reviews of allocations and such reviews are needed. We need to be very clear on the role of the SNA. Maybe it is not as broadly based it is now developing in some cases. There is specific training for SNAs and specific functions as per the circular in respect of supporting children with additional needs. Going from nine to 3.83 SNAs is a huge drop in a relatively small school. It has appealed. I understand that the NCSE will look at all of these cases again and will assess the appeal.

There is great anger among schools and parents in my constituency of Dublin North-West at the proposal to cut the number of special needs assistants in schools. There is already a clear imbalance between the number of SNAs available in schools and the numbers required to cater for the ever-increasing number of students who need such essential assistance. Why is the Government only pausing these cuts and not stopping them entirely? That would reassure a lot of people. We need more SNAs - not less - across Dublin North-West.

Sorry, we are increasing the number of SNAs. There will be no cuts to the number of SNAs in our school system, no SNA will lose his or her job and no SNA will be taken from any school in this school year. Those are the fundamentals. It is important that needs are reviewed and assessed on an ongoing basis. That is logical and that is the way it should be. For the next school year, we will be at 25,000 SNAs. That will be about 45% of an increase over five years. I do not know how anybody in their wildest imagination can call those cuts. It is expansion, but this review is about making sure that each school has the right level of SNAs for its needs.

We already have problems getting SNAs.