On behalf of my colleague, Deputy Robert O'Donoghue, I welcome the Tidy Towns group from Rush.

Over the last number of days, there has been an absolute outcry of support for special needs assistants, SNAs, school communities, children with special educational needs and SNA provision for the coming academic year. This outcry and this stress have been caused by the Government and policy decisions that the Government has made. These actions and communications have been cruel; there is no other word for it. Is it any wonder that there has been such an outcry when the Department of education has made a decision to abruptly take SNAs out of mainstream environments? A person does not have to be an expert to know that taking SNAs out of mainstream environments genuinely affects children, and this is affecting the most vulnerable children in our society.

Last year, I stood on the streets of Cork city and outside Dáil Éireann protesting with parents who could not get access to special classes. At that time, I welcomed the fact that there was an allocation of special classes. While they may not have been fully appropriate, I welcomed the development. At budget time, I welcomed that there was a new allocation for SNA provision. I welcome improvements to our education system. What I do not welcome, and something I will never accept, is that provision of services would be taken from a child. I know from working within school environments that there are children who rely solely on the support of a special needs assistant. We are now, as a State, going to take those supports away from particular children because they do not fit into the rigid criteria that have been created by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the Department of education.

It is unacceptable to imagine or think that we would have children in this country who currently rely on a SNA not getting that support in the next academic year because of decision making by Departments and politicians. As a society, we must accept that the level of resources has not kept up with the level of need. The Taoiseach and the Minister can come in here all they want and say that we have increased the number of SNAs, but if we abruptly pull SNAs from mainstream classrooms, it destabilises them immediately. If we must take these decisions, we must see genuine increases where all children are able to avail of the necessary supports if they need them. There should not be a sudden announcement of "You have it this year, but not next year." Will the Tánaiste confirm what this pause means? When will the pause be lifted? Will schools lose SNAs for the next academic year? Will he confirm for schools that have been told by the NCSE that they have an increase in allocation for next year that this will stay the same?

Hear, hear.

I join the Deputy in welcoming Rush Tidy Towns to Leinster House.

It has been an extraordinarily upsetting and difficult week for parents of children with additional needs, for SNAs, for the children themselves, for teachers and for school communities. That is why it was really important to pause and get this right. The first thing I want to say is that we will see more SNAs in our schools next September than this September. The second thing I want to say is that no SNA should lose their job or will lose their job. In fact, we need more people to be willing to put their hand up to become a SNA. We need to provide them with the job security that is required for that to happen. Any approach to any review has to be child centred. There was significant feedback around the country that this was not the experience of schools on the ground. I say this to be constructive.

Like the Deputy in his constituency, I am aware of schools that sought reviews because they know they need more SNAs. This review cannot be some sort of one-way street. It has to be about identifying the care needs of the children in the school and matching the resource to the care needs. Also, and this should have happened quite frankly in advance of the review, it has to be done in conjunction with a redeployment plan for SNAs. This is something that I believe is almost there. I hope that is a fair characterisation. It is very nearly there. We need that redeployment scheme in place. It will be the first time that we have ever had one. It will put our SNAs quite rightly on a par with teachers, for example. Again, for the first time ever, there will be a proper special education workforce plan. They are two key components that have to be put in place to get any form of child-centred review right as well.

I fully recognise the vital role our SNAs play in supporting children with special educational needs. I fully recognise that there are children who would not have been in a position to complete their education successfully, whether in a mainstream school or a special school, were it not for the SNAs. I fully recognise the very valuable work they do. We are increasing the number of SNAs. We are going to see nearly 25,000 in our schools from September. We are also increasing the budget. However, I take the Deputy's point that this is at a macro level and that we have to see how it applies individually, school by school and child by child. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, listened this week. They listened to the upset, anxiety, concern and anger and they rightly took the action to pause. We are going to get this right over the next number of weeks in that the approach to the review will be child-centred, there will be an SNA redeployment scheme and we will finally have a proper workforce plan for special education. We will intensively engage with stakeholders in the weeks ahead to get this right.

With all due respect, while I agree with the stuff the Tánaiste has said, he has not answered any of my questions. He raised the issue of care needs. Does he accept that the care needs system has become too rigid? I am putting on the record of the Dáil that those who are on the autism spectrum and those who have inclusion needs, social anxiety or academic needs, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia, do not fit into the criteria you need to meet to get the support of a SNA. They will not have that support. That is the fundamental issue. I need an answer to the first question I asked the Tánaiste because I am meeting SNAs, teachers, principals, students and parents tonight. When will this pause be lifted? That is the fundamental question. The Minister, Deputy Naughton's office sent an email back to a school in Dublin 15 this morning saying that this issue was the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan. Is this his issue or is it the Minister's?

It is an issue for the whole of Government to get right. We are absolutely determined to get it right. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, are working hand in glove, along with all colleagues in government, to get this right. There should be no change in the application of the care needs criteria. The Deputy asked me what my view is regarding what must come from this pause. That is my view. That is what needs to happen. We also need to get the redeployment piece right. The Deputy very fairly asked me how long the pause will last for. I will give him an honest answer, which is that it will take a number of weeks to get this right. There is a short window. We need to provide clarity and certainty to schools so it cannot go on for longer than a few weeks. However, at the same time, it is about getting it right rather than doing it quickly. Some of what we have all heard about happening on the ground in individual school communities was not right. Let us make sure some good comes from what has been a very upsetting week for parents, children, SNAs and teachers. We are all fully committed to putting this pause to good use and to getting things over the line that have been an issue for too long, including that redeployment plan. We are happy to keep the Oireachtas updated.