2026-05-28

81. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the revised 2014 SNA circular, the workforce development plan and SNA redeployment scheme; when these will be published; the consultation that has taken place in creating these documents; if they will genuinely reflect the reality of the role of an SNA in a modern educational environment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39683/26]

I ask colleagues to excuse my voice. I must be spending too much time talking in here. I wish to ask about the update of the revised 2014 SNA circular, the workforce development plan and the SNA redeployment scheme. When will these be published along with all of the consultation that has taken place in creating these documents, if any has? Will they genuinely reflect the reality of the role of a special needs assistant in a modern educational environment and in a modern classroom?

I thank Deputy Kenny for his question. My Department is in the final stages of work on the first special needs assistant workforce development plan and associated documents. The plan provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and supporting SNAs, children with special educational needs and school communities. It will, through a co-created series of policy developments, strengthen, clarify and offer clear direction and consistency to the SNA workforce. Significant research and collaboration have been undertaken in preparation of the plan. This includes significant engagement with focus groups of SNAs, students, school leaders and teachers as well as a national survey of SNAs. Published reports on each are available on the Government website. The plan is also supported by collaborative working groups established for each of the five pillars of the work. Membership of these working groups include school management bodies; Fórsa, the trade union representing SNAs; school staff; the National Parents Council; and the Children’s Rights Alliance. The working groups examined every facet of the SNA role in 55 meetings with a view to enhancing support to children and young people with special educational needs. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and I recently met with stakeholder representative groups and SNAs in a day-long engagement to discuss this important work and look at any outstanding gaps that may be within these documents. The key outputs from the plan will include a new circular on the role of the SNA, an SNA redeployment scheme and a review of the SNA employment contract. I very much value the contribution of SNAs and the role they play in schools across the country to make sure the overall well-being of students and pupils is at the forefront of everything we are doing. I am pleased to confirm that the drafting of the plan, the circulars on the SNA role and the SNA redeployment scheme are at an advanced stage. I intend to publish them in the coming weeks.

That is very good. In the next couple of weeks before the Dáil summer recess, we can expect that the redeployment scheme, the revised 2014 circular and the workforce development plan will all be published and available to be viewed by all SNAs, educational stakeholders and politicians right across the country, and of course parents as well. Consultation has obviously been extremely positive, and that is to be welcomed, as is the fact we are now at the final stages. It is not before time at all in relation to the workforce development plan and the redeployment scheme. I do not want to go over again what happened to SNAs at the beginning of 2026. The significant issue remains. I completely understand, as do SNAs, that redeployment has to take place but it has to be given to SNAs before any sort of correspondence is sent out to schools to say that the SNAs within the schools have to be redeployed. It is positive that these will be published. Can the Minister put it on the record that they will be published before the summer?

I thank the Deputy. I want to publish these documents within the coming weeks. They are at an advanced stage and they were codesigned with SNAs, stakeholders and advocacy groups. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I met with them all again recently. We did a day-long session looking at all of these documents to make sure we get this right. The new circular to replace Circulars 30/2014 and 71/2011 on the role of the SNA will be published. There will be an amalgamated circular published and a guidance document will be published for that as well. The redeployment of SNAs will be delivered by the NCSE and it will, for the first time, allow SNAs in posts that may no longer be required for reasons such as falling enrolments, reduced care needs and changing demographics to be redeployed. This is something SNAs have asked for as well. There has been significant engagement and it will be published. There is also an SNA hub online. It will be published there as well as on Government websites.

Very good. It is only positive that it will be published. It will give SNAs and school management right across the country greater clarity on how many SNAs they will be able to have in the school system. We also cannot lose clarity on the fact that we need to continue adding to our SNA workforce across the country. While I appreciate and fully accept that we have the highest number of SNAs we have ever had in our education system right now, needs are only growing right across our education system and the 4,000 schools we have nationwide. Needs are presenting far more than they previously were, which is only positive in one aspect because we are getting to the needs of children and providing them with the services. I am very hopeful - I am not asking the Minister to put it on the record but, rather, just to have it in the back of her head - that there will be a further allocation of SNAs in budget 2027.

I should have said at the outset that we have more SNAs now than ever before. There were 24,896 SNAs in our schools. We will have over 26,000 this coming September. I absolutely know, as a former teacher, the value and the role of the SNA. I do not need to tell the Deputy, Members of this House or indeed parents or young children and students themselves who need the support of SNAs working with the class teacher, the special educational teacher and the school community. We intend to improve their conditions around training and we have been listening to SNAs themselves, who come from a wide variety of life experience and have a wide range of qualifications. We want to make sure that in the documents we are producing now, which are codesigned with them and the school communities, we are enabling them to get access to the training and giving them the redeployment benefits they wanted and have long sought, which is equivalent to teachers across the country.