The Government did not sign off on the review of how Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated at schools across Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
He was defending a move to pause the review and reallocation of SNAs for the coming school year after it caused concern and outrage among parents, teachers and SNAs.
The number of SNAs at around 580 schools were reviewed by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), and a third were told that the number of SNAs at their school would be reduced from September.
Two thirds were deemed to need more SNAs or to keep their current allocation as it was.
At a meeting last 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.
Once a revised circular, a redeployment scheme and a workforce development plan for SNAs are published, the NCSE will again review SNA allocations at schools for the 27/28 academic year.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said it was "extraordinary" to state that the Government did not sign off on the review after ministers publicly defended the plan last week.
"The Government never signed off on this at a governmental level, just [want to] make that point to you," the Taoiseach said.
"Government didn't sign off on this, in terms of the 550 and the scale and the impact of it.
"When Government saw the impact of this, Government considered it, and Government have decided not to go ahead with what was being proposed," Mr Martin said.
Challenges for disabled children
Derval McDonagh, CEO of Inclusion Ireland, said the SNA controversy is "one part of an ongoing challenge that disabled children and their families have faced for many years".
She said Inclusion Ireland was calling for a "much deeper and wider look at our education system".
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, she said the organisation often hears about issues like children travelling an hour and a half in taxis every day to access education, as well as children on reduced timetables.
"And all of those children should have a right to a high-quality education experience in their local school with their siblings and their peers," she said.
Ms McDonagh added that they were looking for a "lot more ambition" during this pause to look "deeper and wider at how we can build a fully inclusive model of education so that all children can thrive and flourish".
She said children were experts in what they needed and must be listened to.
"What we always say to Government, to Government departments, is that we really have a duty to communicate first to children and families about any changes that happen.
"It really isn't acceptable that people are hearing on social media and through other channels about any reduction in supports or any changes in general."
She said there was a massive investment in the education system in recent years, but it was coming from a "pretty low base", and that investment had to be "multi-faceted".
Nationwide protests to go ahead despite Govt U-turn
Meanwhile, organisers of SNA protests due to take place nationwide tomorrow say the demonstrations will go ahead despite the Government U-turn on cuts that would have seen 194 schools lose SNAs.
An additional €19m in exchequer funding has been promised to the Department of Education to allow schools to keep SNA provision at current levels. Schools promised new SNA posts have been assured that that commitment will also be met.
SNA trade union Fórsa said the announcement was a "sticking plaster to be in place for 12 months while the Government tries to get its act together".
But Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton said the Government was not "kicking the can down the road". She said she wanted to "get it right".
Watch: Minister denies Govt 'kicking can down the line' on SNA issue
Yesterday, 30 primary school principals met with local councillors and TDs, including Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to air their concerns.
One Dublin school, Johnstown Boys JNS, stood to lose five out of its nine mainstream classroom SNAs.
The school is hiring a minibus to travel to Leinster House tomorrow to attend a demonstration there - one of 29 due to take place in cities and towns across the country.
Campaigners said last night's announcement came after days of sustained pressure from SNAs, parents and school communities. They said SNAs were a lifeline for children with additional needs in a system that was in perpetual crisis.
Parent and protest organiser Niamh McDonald said while there was relief that there will be no immediate cuts, "nothing has changed in terms of the waiting lists, the lack of therapies, or the pressure our children face every day in school".
"We need to use this moment, while public attention is focused on the crisis in our schools, to push for much deeper change," she said.
Ms Naughton said she was "not happy with the sequencing of events".
She said a redeployment scheme for SNAs who may need to move jobs due to changed SNA allocations to schools was near finalisation, but needed to be explained to SNAs, because "this is actually positive for them".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One programme, Ms Naughton said that she was not stating that the situation that developed over the past week was the fault of the National Council for Special Education, but added she was "not happy with the sequencing of communications".
"I suppose we all take collective responsibility for this, it is on all of us and I’m the Minister to account for it and that’s why I’m saying that I want to make sure that we get this right now and reassure parents out there."
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Asked if she was aware that letters to schools were going out, she said: "This was poorly communicated and there is a collective responsibility here on this and I’m not happy with the way it played out but I want to make sure now that we get this right.
"I knew there were reviews taking place, but the communications around it and the sequencing of the communications was not done correctly and I absolutely accept and I’m going to rectify that now by making sure that we get the communications on the redeployment scheme and those other two documents out there in advance of the NCSE proceeding with further reviews."
Mr Martin said the Government wants to move to a normal annual review system for the allocation of Special Needs Assistants.
The issue will be the subject of a Sinn Féin Dáil motion to be debated this evening.
Addressing tomorrow's planned protests, Fórsa's head of education Andy Pike said the planned cuts "should never have happened".
"Policy on this area hasn't been looked at in a while. The 12 months ahead provide an opportunity to sit down and hammer out the future for special ed policy in mainstream classes," he said.
The Department of Education has said the priority will be on ensuring that the child-centred approach to the provision of special education would be retained and enhanced.
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Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Education and Youth Darren O'Rourke said the ministers involved should have listened to parents, SNAs and teachers who have been telling them for years about the essential work of SNAs.
Describing the Government U-turn as "essential", he said the cuts announced had caused unnecessary hurt, upset, alarm and devastation.
The Social Democrats' Spokesperson on Education Jennifer Cummins said there was a need for clarity on what happens next in relation to SNA funding and that "short-term fixes and late-night announcements" were not good enough.
"The thing that is so important about SNAs that I don't think is being talked about is the relationship they have with the children they work with," she explained.
"If they are not able to build that relationship, that's a fundamental difficulty."
Labour Spokesperson on Education Eoghan Kenny said the Government must explain how the initial plan to cut SNA supports emerged in the first place.
"Government are buying time and hoping this issue will be forgotten about by the academic year 2027 to 2028. Schools still need clarity. SNAs still need certainty," he said.
People Before Profit hailed "an important victory for parents, children, for SNAs and for school communities".
"The Government looked at people power mobilising and it backed down rapidly," PBP TD Richard Boyd Barrett said.
"But we could be here again in a year’s time unless the Government really heeds what school communities have said and radically change their attitude to providing the necessary supports," he said.
Some children fall outside entitlement to SNA support - Principal
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, the Principal of Assumption Junior School in Walkinstown in Dublin said they were devastated when they were told their SNA allocation would be cut to five from nine.
Reflecting a view held by many primary school principals, Jean Leonard spoke of children who fell outside of the strict definition of entitlement to SNA support but who were "honestly not able to access any kind of meaningful education without that support".
Criticising the state body charged with organising special education provision, Ms Leonard said: "I've been a principal for 17 years and I would honestly struggle with finding an organisation that I've ever dealt with that I would feel is less child-centred than the NCSE."
A new circular, which is expected to redefine the role of the SNA in a school, is currently being worked on. It will replace a circular issued in 2014 which limits the role of SNAs mainly to supporting children who need help with physical care needs such as toileting.
Ms Leonard said she would have "huge concerns around who is going to be involved in drafting of the new circular regarding SNA access".
Additional reporting: PA
