Dozens gather outside Education Minister’s Galway office to protest SNA cuts

Parents, special needs assistants and children gathered outside Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton’s constituency office in Woodquay on Wednesday evening to protest proposed changes to special needs assistant allocations despite the government’s 12-month pause on the measures.

Protesters said the temporary rollback, confirmed this week following widespread backlash, does not go far enough and leaves families facing fresh uncertainty next year.

The Government had signalled that almost 200 schools could lose part of their SNA allocation following reviews by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). 

After public outcry, ministers confirmed no school will lose SNAs in September and pledged an additional €19 million in funding. 

However, opposition parties, unions and families have argued the move merely defers the issue until the 2027/28 school year.

Outside Naughton’s office, several demonstrators held placards reading “Respect Our SNAs” and “Standing With Our SNAs”.

Some had brought letters and petitions addressed to Minister Naughton, but were unable to lodge them after finding they could not open the office letterbox.

Galway City councillor Helen Ogbu, who attended in support of families, described the proposed reductions as “an infraction on their basic human rights”.

“Every child deserves a right to education,” she said. “A pause is not a stop.”

Cllr Ogbu said the turnout demonstrated “how Galway works”, adding that communities would continue to mobilise until there is clarity that SNA supports will not be reduced. 

She called for increased funding and long-term planning to ensure children with additional needs are properly supported in mainstream settings.

Annette Buckley, an SNA with 20 years’ experience at Lisheenkyle National School, said the current criteria focus too narrowly on primary care needs such as feeding and toileting, leaving behavioural and social needs inadequately recognised.

“Behaviour, autism, anything like that, social anxiety, does not come into it,” she said. “That needs to change for the SNAs and for the children.”

Ms Buckley said the 12-month pause had not reassured staff. 

“What’s going to happen in 12 months’ time? Are all our jobs going to be on the line again?” she asked. 

She added that schools had been facing the prospect of losing multiple posts, not fractional reductions. “How does the government expect that a school community is going to run smoothly with cuts like that?”

Parents also spoke of the impact reduced supports would have at home and in classrooms.

Renee Feeney, whose son with autism receives SNA support in mainstream primary school, said inclusion depends on children feeling safe and regulated.

“If that SNA is taken away, he will not attend school,” she said. 

She described how she has had to “force him into the car, in his pyjamas to go to school, because he is terrified of going into school, because his SNA may not be there.”

Ms Feeney said she had returned to work this year after more than a decade as a full-time carer because her son had become settled in school with appropriate support. 

A reduction in SNAs, she said, would affect not only her child but entire classes: “It’s not just him that doesn’t access education, it’s all of the other 25 children in the classroom.”

The protest comes amid continued political fallout over the handling of the review process. 

The Tánaiste previously described the initial rollout as “botched”, while opposition leaders have accused the Government of backtracking only after a national outcry.

Under the revised timeline, reforms to the SNA redeployment scheme and workforce development plan will be advanced before any further decisions are taken. 

The NCSE is expected to begin fresh reviews for the 2027/28 academic year once those changes are in place.

For families gathered in Galway, however, the message was clear: a delay is not enough. They are seeking a definitive commitment that SNA supports will be protected and expanded before September arrives.

In a statement, a Department of Education and Youth spokesperson said: “Government has now agreed that there will be no reductions to special needs assistants for the next 2026/27 school year.

“This week’s announcement of an additional €19 million in investment in SNAs will provide an additional 500 SNAs for schools in 2026.

“The priority will be ensuring that the child-centred approach to the provision of special education is retained and enhanced in these policy developments.”