There have been calls for clarity after a number of schools around the country were told they may have their Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocation cut from next September.
Trade union Fórsa said it has been contacted by a number of schools, which said they were informed the allocation will be cut when the 2026/27 school term starts.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Fórsa’s Head of Education Andy Pike said there was a lack of information as to why this was happening.
"What we're hearing is that a significant number of schools have received notification from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), who control the allocation of SNA posts, that SNA jobs are being cut," he said.
"There's a lack of clarity and information around how many schools are affected, how many jobs are affected, and the reasons why this is happening.
"The overall number of SNAs in our schools is due to increase by well over 1,000 posts from September, but it does appear to be the case that the NCSE is cutting provision."
Mr Pike said that there were questions for Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton to answer.
"The overall concern about SNAs is that there's no redeployment scheme in place. The Government was supposed to put in place redeployment, but instead they're cutting jobs before the redeployment arrangements are in place," he said.
"One worry SNAs have working in mainstream schools is that the NCSE is applying quite a strict interpretation of the current criteria for students receiving SNA support to restrict it only to those students who have physical care needs," he said.
"There are many students in mainstream schools who couldn't complete their programme of education due to a number of conditions, which may be the need for emotional support.
"There’s a number of issues that students have apart from physical care needs, which means they really do need SNA support," he added.
Read more: 'Save our SNAs': Parents and pupils protest at Dublin school
An online petition to highlight the cuts has garnered more than 18,000 signatures.
In a statement, the Department of Education has said that the NCSE is responsible for coordinating care support for children with special educational needs in schools, including the allocation of SNAs.
It said the numbers of SNAs a school has can change for different reasons, including changes to student numbers, changes in individual care needs or students moving from primary to post-primary school.
It said the NCSE carries out a review of the care needs profile for each school and allocates or reduces the allocation as appropriate. according to the provisions set out in the DEY Circular 30/2014, which sets out the role of the SNA.
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