Richard Boyd Barrett Demands Reassurance Over SNA Cuts
Richard Boyd Barrett challenged the Taoiseach over threatened Special Needs Assistant (SNA) cuts and ongoing protests. He warned that school communities and organisers are proceeding with demonstrations and seek guarantees that cuts will not return next year.
Protests and immediate reaction
The speaker said protests are going ahead and will be in many places across the country, including a demonstration outside the Dáil tomorrow, as school communities and organisers press the government on threatened SNA reductions.
Local school concerns
He cited the principal of his former primary school, Johnstown National School, who told him she was relieved by the recent U-turn but had no assurance the cuts would not be proposed again next year, reflecting widespread anxiety among parents and staff.
Taoiseach's response on SNA numbers
The Taoiseach replied that there will not be any reductions in special needs assistance in the school year beginning September 26-27 and said numbers will increase. He stated the system will be well over 25,000 special needs assistance, an increase of about 8,700 since 2020.
Planned administrative measures
The Taoiseach also referred to a redeployment scheme, forthcoming workforce planning and a new circular intended to provide a template in response to the situation, while noting that allocations to individual schools change according to pupil need.
Lingering doubts and accountability
The speaker insisted that nothing said so far gives people assurance that the underlying problem prompting the threatened cuts has been understood, and he pressed for clearer guarantees to prevent a recurrence of the threat next year.
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Taoiseach, school communities and the organisers of the protest outside the Dáil tomorrow over your threatened SNA cuts want you to know, and they want it to be known, that those protests are going ahead and will be in many places across the country. Although it is clear that protests and threatened escalation of those protests have forced you to do a U-turn on the planned cuts to SNAs as the principal of my own former primary school, Johnstown National School where some of the most severe cuts were proposed, said to me this morning she said, although they are delighted that you have backed off on these protests she has no assurance really that they won't be back there again next year and that is the feeling out there. Nothing you have said to date gives people the assurance that you have actually understood the problem that led to these threatened cuts in the first place and they are going to make sure they will not be there again next year. What do you have to say to reassure them? Thank you. Taoiseach. I said it already during leaders' questions in terms of there will not be any reductions in special needs assistance in our schools in the school year beginning next September 26-27. There will be increases but there won't be any reductions in our schools and we will be well over 25,000 special needs assistance which will be an increase of about 8,700 since the number from 2020. So that's expansion. And then we will have the redeployment scheme, we will have the workforce planning that will be published and also a new circular in response to that which will give you the template. But no one has ever suggested to me that you have the same number forever in any given school. It depends on the need of the school at a given time in terms of the number of children they have that require supports and care. That's always been the case. You know and everyone in the opposition seems to be suggesting there should never be any evolution. Deputy, this debate does not work back and forth. Thank you.
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