Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has called on the Government to reverse what she said was a "cruel" approach on reviewing the allocation of special needs assistants in schools.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Ms McDonald said the Coalition had shown shown "utter disregard" for children all across schools.
"They need to take this back. They need to go into reverse and make it absolutely clear that schools will have the SNA supports that they require."
She said the Government did not fully understand or appreciate the work of SNAs and said its approach was to damage the experience of children, including vulnerable children rely on their SNAs.
"I think it is a cruel approach, and what we need now is not a pause, because their pause has simply fuelled concerns. It hasn't settled anybody's worries."
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She said that far from showing leadership on the issue, the Coalition was instead now in the process of "reviewing a review".
Last week the Department of Education "paused" a review of allocations after a public backlash and outcry from opposition TDs, teachers, parents and trade unions.
It came after the National Council for Special Education issued letters to several schools advising them that they could lose part of their SNA allocation.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless said the Government understands the anxiety and confusion around the issue, but said it has been so long since the last review and issues have crept up in the system over a number of years.
Mr Lawless said the Taoiseach made in clear in the Dáil earlier this week that no school will lose an SNA in this academic year and no SNA will lose their job.
Asked if this meant that some schools could lose SNAs in the next academic year, Mr Lawless said a pause has been implemented and said Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton and Minister of State for Special Education Michael Moynihan are "intensively engaged with all stakeholders to understand concerns".
The minister said SNAs want job security, and the redeployment scheme which is being provided for them means that their work will not be precarious.
Speaking on the same programme, Labour TD Eoghan Kenny said that he understands that redeployment has to take place, but said he does not accept resources being taken from a child.
He said there is "rigid" criteria on allocating which focuses primarily on physical needs and that children who may have social inclusion needs or anxiety, will no longer have SNA support.
"If you have a child on the autism spectrum but they don't have a physical need, or a child with social inclusion problems, if you have a child with anxiety, they no longer now fit into the criteria for getting an SNA," he said.
Mr Kenny said that as a former secondary school teacher he knows what is like for a child to not be able to cope in a classroom or a school community environment without SNA support.
Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke said that the review needs to be stopped and that almost two weeks into this debacle, the Government is engaging in chaos management with no clarity being provided to people.
