Yesterday, the minister for education, Hildegarde Naughton, announced that the Department of Education is to pause a planned review of special needs assistant (SNA) allocation. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) then reviews each school’s needs profile and allocates SNA support accordingly. Over time, the language of entitlement has softened: Individual SNA allocations have been replaced by whole-school profiles. Chronic shortagesThe same can be said about special education more broadly. Teacher unions do not frame SNA allocations as a teacher issue.

Source: Irish Examiner February 17, 2026 21:30 UTC