MANY PARENTS are confused about the role of special needs assistants (SNAs) resulting in misguided fears over cuts to services, a leading civil servant in the Department of Education told the Oireachtas education committee yesterday.
Jim Mulkerrins, principal officer of the department’s special education unit, said while he recognised parents had real fears, he believed the role of SNAs “had drifted over the years” to a situation where they are too often seen as the solution to all problems.
“Surpluses in the scheme must be identified and removed – assistants retained too long can be counterproductive and the child can become dependant on the care,” he told the committee. “I can say, hand on heart, that children who require support are getting it.”
Earlier this year, Dublin witnessed two large protests against cuts to the number of SNAs and resource teachers’ hours.
Mr Mulkerrins said this year was the first time special services in the department had operated under a spending cap but that some €1.3 billion was still being spent on children with special educational needs. He said 10,575 full-time SNA posts were being provided for schools this year. The department has come under some criticism for its delay in assigning 475 of these posts, which were strategically retained in order to allocate them over the school year in cases such as emergency, appeals or new school entrants.
Yesterday, the committee was told that some 800 applications for the remaining 475 SNA posts were being assessed and that the department expected to have them processed by Christmas.
In relation to the complete removal of specific educational supports for Travellers, Mr Mulkerrins said that the decision was part of a wider tactic to provide supports to Traveller students on an “individual educational need” rather than “Traveller identity”.