Minister announces ‘exciting’ overhaul of SNA scheme

Children with special care needs will get the right supports at the right time in an overhaul of how they are assisted at school, Education Minister Richard Bruton has pledged.

He intends to implement, on a phased basis, the recommendations of a major review by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which he asked in 2016 to look at the €500m-plus scheme of special needs assistants (SNAs). Their numbers will have increased 42% to more than 15,000 in seven years next September.

Mr Bruton described as an “exciting approach” the much broader reforms the NCSE proposed to the model of school supports for children with disabilities or severe medical needs.