SNA cuts protests planned in Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Galway as review paused
The Government faces a second round of controversy next week over proposed cuts to SNA posts. File picture: Danny Lawson/PA
Protests are due to take place across the country as the Government faces a second round of controversy next week over proposed cuts to special needs assistant (SNA) posts.
Demonstrations are planned for Cork, Dublin, Limerick, and Galway on Wednesday as anger continues after the review of next year's SNA allocations was "paused" following backlash from schools, parents, opposition TDs, and trade unions.
Earlier in the week, education minister Hildegard Naughton announced the pause to "ensure that all the concerns raised are really understood".
The Department of Education later confirmed the process is paused for all schools that have received review outcomes, whether increased or decreased.
On Friday, special education minister of state Michael Moynihan would not be drawn on when the paused review will be finished.
He told RTÉ: “There will be no decisions made, the entire process is paused, which means whatever communication there was heretofore, there will be new communication.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin accused the Government of "making it up as they go along", saying that Mr Moynihan had "simply refused to give clarity and answer basic questions" in the radio interview.
The party's deputy leader Pearse Doherty said on Friday that this was a crisis of the Government's own making, "where they have sown confusion and distraught amongst the education community with SNAs and with parents with additional needs".
Speaking at Leinster House, Mr Doherty said that "what people are demanding is that the Government answer a very simple question".
"That is, will every school that has access to an SNA and every child who has additional needs, will they have that SNA support come September? And the Government need to set that out very clearly that that position will remain."
"Their flawed process has caused massive, massive confusion, massive, massive anger, and these parents, parents with children of additional needs, already have to navigate a system of complex needs, battling for their child since they were knee high, fighting the system, and now they should not have to battle Government's confusion and misrepresentation of what's happening."
The Dáil will next week debate a Sinn Féin motion on the issue, brought forward by party spokesperson on education Darren O’Rourke and spokesperson on special education, Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh.
That motion condemns the Government for "inflicting profound distress and anxiety on vulnerable children, their families, and school communities through a rigid, clinical, and deeply flawed interpretation of care needs criteria that reduces children to a checklist of tasks" and "heartlessly removing SNA supports from students whose needs have not diminished".
Labour education spokesperson Eoghan Kenny called on the Government to "provide immediate clarity" to schools, SNAs and families.
He added that the appearance by Mr Moynihan on "has only deepened uncertainty".
"The minister was as clear as muck and could not confirm the length of this so-called pause on the review. He could not tell schools whether they will lose SNAs or what the timeframe is for decisions that will directly impact children with additional needs."
The Social Democrats spokesperson for children, Aidan Farrelly, called the situation "a shambles".
A Government spokesperson said last night: “Government has listened to the concerns raised by parents and school communities in recent days, that is why the minister has asked for the review process to be paused.
"It is important that we can address and allay concerns as we establish a way forward through ongoing intensive engagement between ministers, the department, the NCSE, and education stakeholders.
"It is the minister's intention to do this work at pace and provide clarity without delay.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
