I welcome the SNAs. I welcome the pressure that was brought by SNAs and others on the Government that has led to this pause and reprieve, but it is not a solution. We need to see the ins and outs of the workforce development plan. We need to see a proper, workable redeployment scheme. We have to deal with the failures of the 2014 circular. This is clear to anyone who has heard the testimonies from schools where children were to lose SNA support if they did not fit into primary care. That is the reality. That is what was happening. I can speak about my own son, Turlough. He is 17 now and is in transition year in Ó Fiaich College. He was in a language class in St. Joseph’s and later in mainstream. He could not have done that without what the SNAs did. Let us say it. It was not always plain sailing. In fairness to my wife, she probably carried the slack for a lot of it. At this point in time, as I said, he is in transition year, working on business development projects and going away on trips. He would be able to do none of this, and he would not actually be in education to the same degree, without the SNAs. We need to recognise what they do. We need to put a proper framework in place. The nicest thing I can say about the communications is that they were an absolute mess. We need to look after those people because they look after our children.

Sentiment score: 0.02