The proposed cuts and review, as it was called, which were really cutbacks, were a total disaster and have generated a massive amount of concern. There has been a huge backlash to it from parents, SNAs, teachers, unions and families. In County Laois, two schools were going to have their SNAs, vital supports, cut. It has created all those concerns and uncertainties and fear in those schools and in the families who need them. The plan must be scrapped, not just paused. In Laois, Timahoe National School and Rath National School were facing cuts in their SNA allocations. I had numerous letters, contacts and discussions with parents in those schools. If these cuts were implemented, it would have had disastrous consequences not just for the children with the additional needs but also for their classmates. Quite simply, a teacher would have to do the work of the SNA and would have to fill the gap. SNAs are vital to enable children who have a level of disability or some additional needs to stay in the mainstream classroom setting. The alternative is children falling away from school or going to an ASD class when that is not maybe where they should be, or going to a special school. SNAs provide vital assistance, not just with physical needs of pupils but also with the psychological, learning and emotional needs and they are a crucial support. Some of these schools now have classes where up to 40% or 50% of the children are from households in which English is not the first language, particularly in the Portlaoise area, and that needs to be factored in. This is a huge problem for families and for teachers trying to cover this. The real problem with what the NCSE and the Government planned is that there is an obvious attempt to narrow the role of the SNA. The lack of any serious engagement prior to that with SNAs, unions, parents and school representatives is regrettable. The circular sent out - and this is where the difficulty arises - was clear. It states: "The behaviour should be supported holistically with whole school and whole class approaches and individual needs supported by the class teacher". The class teacher is then taken away from teaching the other 20 or 25 children each time there is some disruption with the additional needs of a child who needs this. I ask the Minister and the Minister of State to picture that situation and to explain to me how that would work. It cannot work. The Government needs to shred this NCSE plan. This should not be just a stay of execution. The Government should get rid of it. There needs to be proper engagement with teachers, unions and SNAs. The Government needs to work towards putting improvements into the SNA system and ensure that children have the proper support they need in the place they need it.

Sentiment score: 0.02