I will start local and then widen it out to the broader vision of inclusive education. Locally, we have been affected by this most recent debacle. Clíona O’Keeffe, who is the principal of Our Lady’s Boys National School in Ballinteer, made multiple media contributions in which she put it perfectly. She said that as a wealthy European country, surely we have enough money in our budget to pay for enough SNAs per school. Her school was told that its allocation would be cut from five to two, prompting waves of anxiety among the school community, parents, children, teachers and SNAs. I was canvassing in the area that week. Multiple people who answered their doors me were distraught about what was coming down the line. I will now widen it out and talk about the broader picture. In a brilliant op-ed in The Journal, Derval McDonagh said: We owe it to this generation - and the next - to think bigger. To move from allocation debates to transformation. To ensure that every child can say with confidence: this school was built for me too. My biggest frustration comes from listening to the Taoiseach defend, day after day, whether there is an increase or whether the allocations will be properly managed. This is all distracting from what we should be doing, which is implementing a fundamental systemic change in how we teach children in this country to one that is inclusive. We start by recognising the constitutional right of every child to an appropriate education and the State then going about realising that right. Tinkering with the number of SNAs and arguing about what the appropriate level is to completely underestimate the mammoth task the State faces to do exactly that, namely create inclusive education where no child is left behind, where no child is segregated and where we all benefit from a system that embraces difference.

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