The Government has been accused of letting down Special Needs Assistants and of pitting one child's needs against another.
Labour Spokesperson on Education and Youth Eoghan Kenny asked the Taoiseach to clarify what he meant when he said yesterday that the Government had not signed off on the review of how SNAs are allocated at schools.
The number of SNAs at around 580 schools were reviewed by the National Council for Special Education (NSCE), and a third were told that the number of SNAs at their school would be reduced from September, causing concern and outrage among parents, teachers and SNAs.
On Monday night, the Government agreed not to reduce the number of SNAs at any schools from September, but in schools where the NCSE said more SNAs were needed, they will be allocated.
Speaking during Leaders' Questions in the Dáil, Mr Kenny said this was either a "clear indication" that the Taoiseach had no faith in the policy his Government created or had a realisation that those working in schools "might actually be right".
He said: "You and your government colleagues are doing your best to spin this as a win. It's another case of 'announce, backlash, retreat and re-announce'."
In response, the Taoiseach said the Government’s policy has to been to increase investment in special needs education and increase the number of SNAs.
"The story is one of expansion and you should acknowledge that," he said.
Micheál Martin said the reason the Government had not signed off on the review was because no memo came before it.
"There was no memo came before Government saying we were going to cut SNAs in individual schools or specific schools. No memo came to Government, none, didn't. That's a fact," he told the Dáil.
Earlier, Tánaiste Simon Harris said the Government "got it wrong" on the review.
Speaking on Newstalk, Mr Harris said that while there was a "strong logic" to review SNA allocations, "the buck stops with us" in how the review was handled.
"There's been a lot of hurt caused over the course of the last week, a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety. We got it wrong.
"The reality of the situation is when something goes wrong, you've got to put your hands up and you've got to fix it.
"What I heard from parents across the country, what I heard from SNAs and what I heard from teachers was that the sequencing here matters."
Mr Harris said the review would be applied in an "only upward manner" from September and said that the 2014 circular needed to be updated.
He added: "Let's make sure something good comes from this. What can happen now, within the next couple of weeks, we can have a redeployment scheme for SNAs.
"In fairness to everybody, and in fairness to the Department of Education, the trade union Fórsa, that's been worked on for quite a period of time, where basically a special needs assistant will have the same options as a teacher when it comes to redeployment, that's important in terms of job security and career security. That's almost there."
He said the first workforce plan for special education will also be drawn up and published.
"I don't think this should just be explained away as a communications issue. I think there's a deeper conversation we need to have around inclusive education and supporting children with additional needs in 2026.
"So I'm not here to say anything other than yes, this was a week that caused a huge amount of upset, but something good has to come from it, and we're determined that it will," the Tánaiste added.
Additional reporting PA
