‘An SNA is inclusion, an SNA is dignity’

Last Wednesday Castlepollard staged one of the many demonstrations against government plans to modify the way Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated. Some 120 people gathered in the Square to give voice to concerns about the changes affecting the educational support staff.

Claire Devine opened the proceedings explaining the motivation behind the protest: “We come here respectfully and more importantly we come here as a united community. I stand here today as the education representative for the Castlepollard Town Team.”

The community turned out in numbers to show solidarity with children with additional needs, SNAs and the school communities calling on the government for clarity on the issue.

“I stand here representing not just Castlepollard but our surrounding areas, our families, our schools and the children who every single day rely on the support of the special needs assistance,” Ms Devine said. “Let me say this very clearly, this is not about politics, this is not about party lines or personal agendas, this is about our community and the children within it. An SNA is not extra help, an SNA is access, an SNA is inclusion, an SNA is dignity.”

She gave voice to the reason the issue was so important: “SNAs are the quiet strength behind so many children’s progress. They help children regulate when the world feels overwhelming, they support communication where words are hard to find.

“They build independence step by step and day by day, they give parents something that’s completely priceless and that’s reassurance. Without SNAs, inclusion is just a word on paper; with SNAs, inclusion becomes real.”

Ms Devine summed up the reason for the protest: “Our message this evening is simple: our children deserve support, our schools deserve resources, our SNAs deserve recognition, respect and proper investment. When we support SNAs, we support children. When we support children, we strengthen our whole community.”

The group marched around the Square displaying posters and placard with the message ‘Save our SNAs’. On completing the circuit, parent Sinead Devine told her story: “It’s about survival, it is about dignity, it’s about all children with disabilities,” she said. “My eight-year-old son is non-verbal and autistic. He can’t come home and tell me how his day went, he cannot explain if he felt scared, overwhelmed, proud or left out.

“He is vulnerable in a world that does not always understand him. In school he is entirely reliant on his SNAs. Without that support, he does not have access to education, it’s that simple. Special needs assistants are not an extra, they are not a luxury, they are the bridge between isolation and inclusion,” Ms Devine said.

She gave an insight to the support the educational supporters provide: “For my son, his SNAs are like a second mother to him. They keep him safe, they protect his dignity and they make him feel accepted. You take that support away and you are not trimming a budget line, you are removing his chance to learn, to grow and to belong. You are placing already stretched families under unbearable pressure. SNAs are lifelines and our children’s futures depend on them. So please support our SNAs and the invaluable work that they do,” she said.

Organiser Tracy Kelly told the gathering that a recent announcement by the government did little to dispel concerns: “The main issue today is the government have done a turnaround, but it’s a pause, it’s not cancelled, it’s paused. We need to rewrite the role of the SNA, our role has not been described properly. So when the reviews happen, they’re judging us on an unrealistic role, it’s not based on what we actually do.”

The gathering was attended by local elected representatives: “We’re here as local representatives fully supporting the people here and the SNAs in all the schools in our area. I don’t believe that there should be any cuts,” Cllr Alfie Devine said after the march.

“There’s a huge amount of SNAs throughout the country and a lot have been recruited. In 2020 we had 16,000, we now have 25,000. There’s another 1,700 to be recruited over the next 14 or 15 months and that’s the way it should be, it should keep growing.

“I think there needs to be an overhaul of the management of the system as a whole. We need to give them all the support they need because they’re valued,” Cllr Devine said. “It’s great to support the SNAs here this evening,” said Cllr David Jones. “We see the importance the SNAs have, not only in the local school here St Michael’s, Castlepollard, but in schools right across the district.”

Cllr Jones said the emotive speakers conveyed the importance of the issue: “You’ve seen the passion in the speeches here tonight, people were talking from the heart about the wellbeing of their children.

“I think it’s important we don’t see any cuts – that it’s increased where needed. We need to support the SNAs any chance we can get, because they do brilliant work.”