Micheál Martin

I acknowledge the very significant contribution healthcare assistants make to our health system. The difficulty here is there was a Workplace Relations Commission hearing on 10 March last year between ICTU unions and the relevant Departments. An agreement was reached on pay and conditions but that applied to section 39 organisations under the health Acts, section 56 of the Child and Family Agency …

To give Deputies a bit background, I was the Minister for Education who introduced special needs assistants to mainstream schools for children with special needs. I do not need lectures from Deputy McDonald in terms of the value, importance and centrality of special needs assistants to children in our schools and the support that they have given. I have watched it grow from almost nothing to close…

I have spoken with the Minister, Deputy Naughton; the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan; and the NCSE. They will work through with the schools that have been impacted more severely than others. I do not believe any school should lose six SNAs. I think that was reported last evening.

I do not believe any school should lose four if there are six.

I do not believe that, and that is why more regular reviews would be better. They would be more attuned to the needs of the school year, rather than what may happen when capacity has built up and needs have changed. The needs do change. We are bringing a therapy service in schools, and into special schools in particular. We will have a multidisciplinary approach in special schools. We spread that…

Ba mhaith liom a rá go bhfuil muid ar thaobh na SNAs.

Tá i bhfad níos mó infheistíochta curtha isteach againn ó thaobh chúrsaí oideachais do leanaí a bhfuil riachtanais speisialta acu.

We are increasing the number of special needs assistants to 25,000 for the school year 2026-27 beginning in September. I will repeat for you that we are increasing, not cutting, the number of special needs assistants for the next school year.

There will be 25,000. The numbers have gone up by 45% in the last five years.

Those are not cutbacks; that is expansion. Now I will speak about the reason.

I spoke yesterday to the Minister, Deputy Foley. We were in County Kerry yesterday. I spoke about schools appealing. Schools are well used to appealing. I do not mean that in any cold way. That is important.

No, sorry. That is right across the board.

Sorry, when it comes to any scheme, schools will seek to make some appeals, correctly in my view.

The making of appeals is a mechanism to deal with some of these issues. I have said it already that no school should lose four SNAs in any one year.

It depends on the needs of the school. If, for example, three or four children who were benefiting from an SNA in a primary school move onto second level, that can change the need.

Surely the Deputy is not suggesting-----

I am not out of touch at all. I am far more in touch than you are.

I have been working on this all my political life and I will continue to work all my political life on special needs education.

Surely Deputy McDonald is not saying that every SNA stays in situ forever, irrespective of the need.

That is what she is saying. That does not make sense either.

All I am simply saying is that we have expanded the numbers-----

-----and we want the children who need it most to get the service they require and the SNA supports they require-----

-----and that is what we are going to do.

First of all, the Minister for Health has expressed her deep disappointment-----

-----at the decision of An Coimisiún Pleanála to overturn the position of Dublin City Council and, indeed, its own recommendation from its own planning inspector who recommended that the proposed critical care wing at the Rotunda should go ahead. I would add that it is deeply disappointing. The Minister this morning met with the regional clinical director and also the regional executive officer. T…