Parents to maintain protests over SNA losses

PARENTS of children with special needs have vowed to maintain a campaign of protest over the summer unless the Government reverses its recent decision to axe some 200 special needs assistants (SNAs) in schools.

Around 150 adults and children from schools in Enniscorthy, Wexford and Lucan staged a demonstration outside Leinster House yesterday calling on Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to restore funding for the SNA jobs which was cut to comply with a cap agreed under the IMF/EU/ECB bailout deal.

The group expressed anger and outrage at the decision which they claimed was putting the needs of bankers ahead of the most vulnerable members of society.