Reading through some of the messages and emails that I got before this motion, I was struck with the very real thought, namely, what exactly does the State have against children who require additional support? The fact that the Taoiseach called the Save our SNAs campaign flawed has done nothing but make that thought concrete in my mind. These are children who are denied school places and bused out of their own communities past their local schools for hours because the Government failed to plan. In Longford-Westmeath, families are exhausted. They are exhausted by a system that treats their child's additional needs as an inconvenience and exhausted by a special education system being redesigned by stealth. The Government has removed complex needs from a set of allocation criteria. This was not reform; it was rationing. The Government restricts SNA access through outdated rules. This is not efficiency; it is cruelty wrapped in bureaucracy. The Government announced inclusive classes that are larger yet have the same level of supports. That is not inclusion; it is dilution. The Government refuses to publish the true number of children who are still without places for school in September 2026. Why does it not do so? It is because the truth would expose the scale of Government failure. Children and families do not need another announcement or review. They need accountability and action. The Government must establish that all-party Oireachtas committee on the future of inclusive education and bring parents, teachers, SNAs, therapists, school leaders and educators into a public forum. It must reverse the restrictions that block children from accessing SNAs, recognise SNAs and the roles they play, reverse the junior and leaving certificate fees because it is penny pinching, row back on the school transport scheme fare increases at a time when the cost of living is biting families and guarantee every child a real school place, real support, real therapies and real equality. There should be no more spin, no more cuts by stealth and no more hiding behind announcements and re-announcements.

Sentiment score: -0.12