‘Impact on all pupils’

FIONNUALA Lynch won’t start school until next year but her mother Tracey Holsgrove is fighting to ensure she gets all the supports she needs when does.

The three-year-old has a rare condition called Dandy-Walker syndrome, which means part of her brain is not fully developed. She is at the developmental stage of a 10-month-old and is unable to walk or to stand on her own, and still wears nappies.

Under the previous government’s four-year national recovery plan last November, the number of special needs assistants (SNAs) helping children with disabilities in primary and second-level schools can not breach 10,575, despite thousands more children entering classes over the next few years.