About two weekends ago, I took a call from an SNA who informed me they had been told their job was under threat following a letter the school they were employed in had received from the NCSE. The fear, heartbreak and anxiety in that call will stay with me for a long time. Not knowing if you have a job or how you will pay your mortgage and look after your family reflects the reality of what a Department has caused in sending out the letters. It is the reason I raised it with the Taoiseach the following Tuesday, the first opportunity available to me. The panic in the SNA's call has got to be a watershed moment for us all in this House regarding how SNAs are treated. They must not be left in a position where they will continue to dread the call to the principal's office. In some cases that I heard about recently, they were being offered limited-hours contracts that a part-time employee would have difficulty with. I have been inundated by calls from families who have told me their children with special educational needs flourished because of the special bond they had with their SNAs. Those families cannot understand why a Government would have wanted to break that bond and jeopardise the progress their loved ones were making. In my own area, three schools - Scoil Mhichíl Naofa, Athy, Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge, and St. Joseph's in Halverstown - received letters. The panic in the calls I received has got to be the watershed. The Government must not continue to treat SNAs like it has been treating them as a result of the letters. We all hear that SNA numbers are increasing. The three schools that contacted me were to see cuts. That is the reality of it. They were losing their SNAs. The SNAs were losing their livelihoods and those children who needed them were losing the special bond. That is the reality.

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