The Chair should be respected.

Over the past two weeks, the Government has let down children with additional needs, special needs assistants, parents, school communities and now special educational needs organisers, SENOs. That is why tonight, across the country, these very people will take to the streets and protest outside the Dáil at 5 p.m. At every opportunity, the Labour Party has welcomed developments in our education system. I welcomed new special classes, new special schools, new SNAs and the proposed roll-out of therapy supports but when something is not right, I will call it out for what it is, and this was plainly wrong. The Government was pitting one child’s needs against those of another. The political wind changed and the Government felt the pressure, scrapped the policy, went to the kitty and got money. This is a clear indication that either the Taoiseach had no faith in the policy that his Government created or he had some sort of realisation that those working within our schools might actually be right. In any case, the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues are doing their best to spin this as a win. It is in fact another case of announce, backlash, retreat and re-announce.

Deep down, this question must be posed. How much damage has the Government done to special education in this country? Every year, there is fear, anxiety and worry on the part of parents across the country who wonder if their child will have an appropriate class and resources, SNA support and enough special education teachers. Parents should not have to carry that burden. As a State, we must get special education right. It cannot be ad hoc. It must take a long-term approach where we are not scrambling every year to get the basics right.

I want to clarify two points. First, in his response to my party leader yesterday, the Taoiseach stated the Government "did not sign off on this" initiative. What did he mean by that? His Government created this policy and got the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, through the SENOs, to implement the policy. They did as they were told. They informed schools of the decisions based on the policy the Government created. The Taoiseach said the Government did not sign off on this. Will he clarify what he meant by that? Did he agree with the policy? Did he not know the letters were being sent out? Was this the Taoiseach attempting to place the blame on SENOs and the NCSE?

Second, the Taoiseach said yesterday that the role of the SNA is primarily for the child and not for the school. The 2014 circular clearly states in section 10 that SNAs are not allocated to individual pupils but to schools as a schools-based resource in the same manner that teachers are allocated to schools. Can the Taoiseach clarify what he meant by that? Is it a lack of understanding or another opportunity to deflect from the reality that the Government was taking resources off children?

Government policy has been to increase investment in special needs education and increase the number of SNAs. That is the policy. The manifestation of that policy is as follows: in 2020, 16,420 special needs-----

I welcome that.

The Taoiseach is answering. Deputy Kenny should not interrupt him again until it is his turn.

The manifestation of that policy is that there were 16,420 SNAs in 2020, 17,921 in 2021, and this went up to 18,831 in 2022, 20,805 in 2023, 22,000 in 2024, 23,870 in 2025, and to over 25,000 in 2026. That is Government policy. That is what I signed off on. That is what all of us in Government signed off on in the Estimate that was agreed.

In addition to that, staffing overall has gone up by about 27%. There are now 22,465 special education teachers in our system. In the past five years, we have provided an extra 16 special schools when there were none for the seven years prior to 2020. The story is one of expansion. The Deputy should at least acknowledge that. That is the point.

Equally, the population identifying with a disability is growing.

We need to expand to deal with the growing need. In the census of 2022, close to 11% - 10.8% - of children in Ireland were reported as having a disability. That compares to 6.4% in 2016. Those are significant factors and we acknowledge those. There is a lot of pressure on the system and we need to expand. When I said we did not sign off on this, no memo came before the Government saying we were going to cut SNAs in individual or specific schools. No memo came to the Government. None. It did not. Those are the facts.

Did the Taoiseach not know about the levels?

No, not the overall impact.

Wait, Deputy Kenny.

Again, the Deputy is interrupting. The Government did not sign off on any memo or memorandum or any note saying that "X" hundred SNAs are going to be cut off. That is the reality. I established the system of SNAs and, yes, when I brought it in, the SNA was allocated to the child. The system grew and we brought in school-based allocations. I know all about that, but the school-based allocation is based on the need and particularly the special education need. It is based on the number of children that require a need and then there is a decision on the number of SNAs that a given school will get.

I do not need lectures from the Taoiseach on the role of an SNA-----

No, the Deputy asked about-----

I do not need lectures from the Taoiseach on the role of an SNA. I know what they are about. I said at the beginning that I welcome the development of SNAs. I did not need the figures. I know the figures and I welcome them. As a State, we have to accept the reality. The level of resources did not keep up with the level of need. That is the reality.

We were able to get €19 million overnight. Was it penny-pinching all along? Was it the Taoiseach's deputy leader, Deputy Chambers, keeping the money away from the Department of education? How were we able to get €19 million overnight?

Will every single child who is entitled to a special class be given a place in a special class for the next academic year? My understanding is that the level of applicants means we now require 600 special classes. We have funding for 400 special classes. Will the Taoiseach put it on the record that every single child who is entitled to and needs a special class will be given a place?

The only reason I replied to the Deputy with numbers was that he made a false assertion in terms of Government policy on special needs assistants.

That is completely untrue.

Again, the Deputy is interrupting. I did not interrupt him.

You are telling untruths.

Deputy, please accept that you have to wait.

He did make a false assertion in terms of Government policy. I wanted to make it very clear to him and to the public that our story has been one of expansion in special education. Earlier this year, we brought forward the application date for schools and parents who require special education places for their children. The numbers have increased exponentially this year. Perhaps it is because of the earlier date or there may be other factors. It is over and above anything that was contemplated and, in particular, many more have come in post the October deadline.

There is a constitutional right for every child to have a place in education. Our objective and obligation as a Government is to provide that place. There will be a need for more special classes. There will be huge challenges because of the exponential rise in children this year, compared to last year or previous years, in the data that has come in, both for those who went before the deadline date and those after.

Will every child get a place in a special class?