The protests included families, children, SNAs, teachers and supporters calling on the Government to make a proper plan for special education
Protesters gather outside Dail Eireann calling for special education reform in Ireland(Image: Robbie Kane)
Chants of “save our SNAs” echoed outside Dail Eireann this evening as hundreds took to the streets for the welfare of children with additional needs across Ireland.
Despite the Government putting a temporary halt to a review that would see a third of 580 schools reviewed lose a number of special need assistant allocations, 30 protests went ahead across Ireland over uncertainty surrounding the role and staffing. SNAs, teachers, parents, children with additional needs and their supporters took to the streets of Dublin and other counties.
There was also a call for all needs to be considered for children in school – not just those who have primary care needs which include mobility, toileting and dispensing medication. Those with secondary care needs, including neurodivergent children that need help with regulation and sensory breaks, are not guaranteed an allocation of an SNA under the current guidelines.
Jesslyn Henry, an SNA who is also a a councillor on Dublin City Council for the Artane-Whitehall area, was one of the organisers of the protest. She told Dublin Live that SNAs, educators, parents and relevant parties are calling on the Government to meet with them and hear what is actually needed for children in education with additional needs.
Protesters gather outside Dail Eireann calling for special education reform in Ireland(Image: Robbie Kane)
She said: “SNAs need a voice. The parents of the children that we care for need a voice. The announcement by the Government the other night that this wasn’t gonna happen, it’s just kicking the can down the road. It’s an extended pause but it gives us no certainty on our jobs. And it gives families no certainty on who’s going to care for their children.
“We need the redeployment scheme that they promised us to be released now, not in a year’s time. We need to know where our jobs are and where we’re going from now. We’ve called on the Government to meet with us. So that we can actually sit down and talk about special education in an open and meaningful way. And to come up with actual solutions. Not this, crap, basically, of always looking from year to year – what are we going to do? We need solutions and we need them now.
Speaking later to the crowd, Jesslyn said: “We don’t know whether it’s our school next. That is deeply, deeply unfair. We need answers, and we need answers now. This is a worker’s rights issue. This is a human rights issue. Our children need the care and support that everyone one of us offer them in our schools. Every child within every school deserves the right to be there in safety with the supports that they absolutely need, no matter what they are.”
Organiser, SNA and DCC councillor Jesslyn Henry(Image: Robbie Kane)
Sarah, a teacher in Lucan Educate Together, was there in support of SNAs including Anne-Marie, who cares for the children in her class. She said: “This is my amazing SNA, and the children in my class would be absolutely lost without her.”
Anne-Marie continued: “We’re here to fight for our kids rights, for their entitlements, what they do and what they should deserve.”
They were joined by Lisa, who said: “The bottom line is, secondary care needs are primary care needs. Our role needs to change and be more inclusive of needs. In what other role would the rules change with no discussion, no documentation, no circulars. It was disgraceful what happened, it should have never had happened and it’s an apology that we deserve as well.”
Conor Reddy from People Before Profit, a DCC councillor who also helped to organise the protest, told Dublin Live: “There’s a crisis in special education in this country. There’s far deeper crisis in how children are looked after in classrooms all over Ireland. We need to see the role of the SNA on the ground recognised formally. SNAs provide essential support for children to regulate themselves, to communicate, to be included fully in education. It’s not currently part of their formal job description.
“There’s a huge level of unmet care there and that unmet care needs to be catered to. Every child needs to have access to appropriate education, and that includes having sensory needs taken into account, communication needs and different styles of learning as well. This is ballooning, it won’t go away, it’s past the tipping point really. We need to see far more investment in special education.”
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