Over the past number of weeks, I have listened intently to parents who are sick with worry. I have listened to special needs assistants who are lying awake at night wondering if they will have a job come September. These are jobs that they love and vocations they do with every fibre of their being. I have listened to children and their voices, which are really important in this debate. They simply want to feel safe, supported and included in their own classrooms. What have they been met with over the past two and a half to three weeks? It is gaslighting. There is no other word for what they have been met with. They have been told there is no crisis. They have been told there will be no cuts. Then they were told that it would be paused. In Waterford, Government representatives were out in the space of one day with three different messages. The first was that it was all a conspiracy crafted by the Opposition. In the next couple of hours, it was that there were not cuts and what were people talking about. After that, it was that there were cuts but they were going to stop them. The Government needs to listen to parents, SNAs and school leaders. If it had done that it would have heard what we in Sinn Féin heard when we had our public meeting. I know other parties in the Opposition have been engaging with SNAs as well. The depth of anger was striking. It was really astounding. The testimonies were raw and moving. The level of anxiety was so sharp. There is a real determination among these parents, SNAs and school leaders to ensure these children have access to an appropriate and proper education. We have to also be clear that there is a context here. The chaos did not come from nowhere. It came from Government decisions and policy. No matter how Government tries to throw Ministers, Ministers of State, the NCSE, schools and anybody and everybody they can under the bus over this, this is Government decision-making. This is policy writ large. Policy that has to be changed late at night by Government leaders is never good policy. It is the hallmark of bad policy. Schools have been told of impending cuts and now what we have is a reprieve. It is not the reset that the sector desperately needs. While the review has stopped, the damage has already been done. Trust has been shattered. There will be protests outside this place this evening. There will be protests across the State today, tomorrow and Friday. Trust is gone. Parents are still anxious. They do not believe Government and what they have been told. SNAs do not believe the Government. We still do not know what September will look like in schools for these children. Will any child lose their SNA in September? That is the question. We need solid guarantees that will not happen. It should never have been a question in the first place. One parent highlighted to me the difficulties with the circular and how it does not reflect the daily work they see done by SNAs for their child and other children in that class. It goes far beyond the narrow definition in the 2014 circular. This moment should be about properly valuing SNAs, understanding their work and updating the framework to reflect what they actually do. Here we have a broken system that needs to be changed. We have parents who are used to fighting for every therapy, support and piece of access they have for their child. They are going to continue fighting and mark my words, this battle is not over. People are going to hold the Minister and this Government accountable to what they have promised and said in the past number of days to ensure that no child is left without the support they need to secure an education.

Sentiment score: -0.07