Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Question:152. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education the date for the release of the SNA allocations. [14308/23]
View answerThursday, 23 March 2023
Questions (152)
Written answers
I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and advise that the provision of education for children with special needs is a priority for Government and for me as Minister for Special Education and Inclusion. This is reflected in my Department’s 2023 budget allocation of more than €2.6 billion to support special education. This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department of Education’s total allocation for 2023.
Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) provide schools with additional adult support staff to assist children with additional care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate attendance by those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.
My department has allocated 1165 additional SNA’s to schools in the past year and in Budget 2023 an additional 1194 SNA’s are being provided to support schools and will be allocated as follows: 735 to support students in new special classes, 124 to support students in new special school places and 335 to support students in mainstream classes.
For the first time ever we will have over 20,000 Special needs assistants in schools in 2023.
The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations for the 2023/2024 school year are presently being development by my department and will be advised to schools as soon as possible and in line with previous year timelines.