“Chaos and confusion on the ground,” Mayo TD demands clarity on SNA allocations after government pause

Mayo TD Paul Lawless has called for full transparency from the Government following the decision to pause the review of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations.

Speaking today, Paul Lawless said he welcomed the move to halt the review but insisted that “a pause is not enough” and that the entire process should be scrapped.

The intervention follows yesterday’s announcement by Hildegarde Naughton, Minister for Education and Youth, that the review would be paused amid growing national concern from parents, teachers and school communities.

Deputy Lawless said the events of recent days had caused significant uncertainty in Mayo schools.

“What happened over the past week created chaos and confusion on the ground,” he said. “Last week the Minister for Education took questions from myself and other TDs in the Dáil. During that contribution neither the senior nor junior Minister gave any indication that SNAs were going to be slashed. In fact they said there was going to be an increase in SNAs.”

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He said he had been assured in the Dáil that 860 special education teachers and 1,717 special needs assistants would be allocated well in advance of the 2026/27 school year.

“They said there was record investment and no shortage of SNAs,” he added.

However, over the weekend unions reported claims that SNAs were being let go and that there appeared to be a redefining of what constitutes “special needs” which could exclude some children from qualifying for SNA support.

“Parents and staff and schools were left in absolute limbo and confusion over what was happening,” he said.

The Aontú TD also questioned the timing of the developments.

“I think the timing of the story was very suspicious — it broke after the Dáil discussion. Did the NCSE delay the sending of these letters so it wouldn’t dominate last Thursday’s Dáil question session?” he asked.

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Deputy Lawless said the Minister now needs to make a full statement in the Dáil clarifying the situation, particularly around the figures cited.

“The figures provided to me in the Dáil must be clarified — are we talking about 1,717 new SNAs before September or is that figure relating to the redeployment of existing SNAs?” he said. “I was led to believe they were new posts, but now I’m questioning everything the Minister said in response to my question last week.”

While welcoming the pause in the review, Deputy Lawless said stronger action was required.

“For the sake of our hard-working SNAs, and the children, parents and teachers who they’ve bonded with and help so diligently, we need utter clarity on the situation,” he said.

“The pause is welcome, but a pause is not enough. We in Aontú believe the review should be thrown in the bin.”

The controversy over SNA allocations has sparked widespread debate nationally, with parents and school communities in Mayo closely watching developments ahead of the 2026/27 school year.