Department of Education 'categorically' reassures parents no cuts will be made to SNA posts

SNAs should not be worried about cuts to their posts, Department of Education says.

The Department of Education has moved to “categorically” reassure parents and special needs assistants (SNAs) that no cuts will be made to their posts, despite facing a €500m deficit for 2026.

Addressing the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, secretary general of the department Bernie McNally, when it was suggested to her SNAs were worried for their future due to a lack of clarity on where €19m in additional funding for their posts was to come from, said: “Can I categorically seek to reassure them that they should not be worried.”

She reiterated in addition to the 1,717 SNA posts the department had budgeted to fund, the €19m in emergency funding agreed by the Government for the department would be used to source an additional 500 of those posts for this coming September.

The department had found itself at the centre of an outcry from parents and teachers when it emerged in February some schools around the country were to have their allocation of SNAs cut following a review of needs.

While €19m was allocated by the Department of Public Expenditure to alleviate that crisis, it has yet to be ascertained where that additional funding will come from, with the Government electing last year to move away from the system of supplementary estimates, which saw departments seek additional funding from the exchequer.

Ms McNally insisted the €19m had been assigned and was now winding itself through the bureaucratic process which will see it approved at Cabinet before being voted upon by the Dáil.

When asked if other sections of her department could face cuts due to both the overspend and the additional €19m allocated to SNAs, Ms McNally said: “What I understand is that the Government is really committed to education.”.

She declined to be drawn on just how high the department’s overspend would be — some estimates have put it at as high as €700m — but did say: “We are absolutely and utterly not on a runaway train."

Legal cases

It has also emerged that the Department of Education has spent just under €1.8m in three years defending legal cases taken by parents struggling to source a special education place for their child. 

Ms McNally said “no parent needs to go down that legal route”.

“We have increased the number of special schools by 20%. We will provide them with an appropriate education, with a special class. We’ve demonstrated the extra delivery of special classes and special school places,” she said.

Asked why some 126 cases had been lodged in the High Court in this school year relating to the provision of special education places, Ms McNally said: “Parents probably don’t trust us yet.”

“They probably don’t see and believe the amount that is being done to ensure that every child and young person will get a school place. We need to be able to assure them much earlier,” she said.

Public Accounts Committee chairperson John Brady said the level of cases being taken by parents was “symptomatic of the fundamental flaws at the heart of how special education supports are provided”.

“This €1.769m should have been invested in additional special school classes and supports, not spent on adversarial court battles and costly legal fees,” Mr Brady said.