I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this. Stopping the cut to SNAs in schools was the right thing to do and I think it has given some people reprieve. I have been out to visit several schools this week, sat in staff rooms and helped schools with their appeals. I met parents and some students who benefit from SNA support. SNA support is a key enabler in Irish education. It allows people to fulfil their schooldays in a happy, supported way. To take that away can be devastating for the child and the parent, and then there is the uncertainty that brings for the SNA. Many feel that this is just a reprieve and they are looking for certainty beyond today as to what will happen next and what will happen in the new school year. I refer to timelines in particular. We want to know when all these reviews will happen and when Circular 0030/2014 will be reviewed. We need to hear those timelines. SNAs need certainty. Before becoming a TD, I was a primary school teacher, and many moons ago I worked for a year as a special needs assistant. This has to be a reset moment where we define properly and put proper value on the work of SNAs in all schools throughout the country. The schools I have visited this week are in Flagmount, Feakle and Kilfenora. Many more are affected by this and they want certainty going forward. Crucially, we need to deal with Circular 0030/2014, brought in by the Labour Government in 2014. It is not working and does not reflect what is going on in schools throughout the country. It needs to be overhauled, and I would hate to think that it would still be in existence this time next year. Finally, SENOs do a fine job. Many of them are very good, but I have come across very many cases where SENOs are overriding the expert opinions of educational psychologists. That would not happen in any other sphere. Not one of us here would go down the street to one of the acute hospitals in Dublin, walk up to the surgical theatre and start telling the surgeon how they should be doing their job or overriding their expert opinion. That does not happen in any field. There is a legal point to this. We cannot have someone who is not an educational psychologist pick up a report and diminish what it actually involves. That is wrong, and that is a legal point the Government will have to grasp because it is central to this issue we find ourselves in.

Sentiment score: 0.09