Barrtalk: SNA cuts must stop, here and now - a 'pause' is not good enough

Even by government standards, the mishandling of the SNA cuts last week has been utterly diabolical. Full disclosure. Her Indoors is an SNA.

Regardless of the guarantee of redeployment, she is enraged at the decision to cut SNAs from schools, callously rolled out by Education Minister Hildegard Naughton last week.

Just days later, the government was forced to ‘pause’ the controversial move. Like hundreds of thousands of parents across the country, Her Indoors is angry on behalf of the children and young people who are being failed by the system.

If SNAs were to stick to the current, outdated terms of employment, thousands of children would be actively ignored.

Children with ADHD who need a break from the classroom; children with anxiety who need a bit of breathing space in the school day; a child who is dysregulated and can’t access learning without adult support; a neurodivergent child who requires support to navigate all the challenges that the school environment brings.

These children don’t need support, apparently.

In fact, the Minister’s stock answer that more special classes will be opening essentially means that these children will be excluded from mainstream classes going forward. This is education in Ireland in 2026.

Let that sink in.

In fact, here in Buncrana, a child with type 1 Diabetes will lose essential support. In Muff, a mother has to attend school with her child, who has epilepsy, because attempts to get the child an SNA have been unsuccessful.

All this in the same country and rolled out by the same Department of Education that still has Enoch Burke on the payroll. Happy to pay a jumped-up mouthpiece like him, but let a child who needs help in the classroom go wanting.

To a child who desperately needs support, an SNA is much more important than the teacher. If not for that extra support, the child would not even make it into the classroom to avail of an education in the first place.

We’re in the middle of a child mental health crisis in this country, where children are waiting years to see a psychologist, and detention centres are at breaking point with teenagers trapped in cycles of antisocial behaviour.

And yet in our schools, where we send our children five days a week, the government is taking away that person who might just be able to change things for a child at a crucial point in their lives.

Instead, those young people will be abandoned and left to their own devices unless they need help with a physical care need. Have we gone back to the 1950’s, where we sweep mental health issues under the table?

Our SNAs work way beyond what their archaic terms ask them to do. If they didn’t, our schools wouldn’t function. All they’re asking is that they be allowed to do their jobs without the threat of the axe hanging over their heads.

The *pause* which the government has now put in place over cuts has to lead to meaningful change. To that end, protests are taking place across the country on Wednesday, February 25.

We all have a responsibility to see this changed – and changed for good.

Parents, grandparents, teachers and politicians should be in Buncrana’s Market Square in force on February 25 to support our most vulnerable children and their invaluable SNAs.

Ratcliffe’s repugnant views should spell the end of his time at United

As a lifelong Manchester United fan, I was, of course, utterly disgusted by the repulsive and xenophobic comments made by the club’s co-owner Jim Ratcliffe in recent weeks.

Ratcliffe claimed that the UK was being “colonised by immigrants” and that “huge levels” of immigration were “costing too much money” – all patently false claims, which have no basis in reality. But when has reality ever stopped the right-wing hate speech?

The barefaced cheek of a billionaire tax exile, who resides in Monaco, lecturing on the issue of immigration, is quite breathtaking.

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Anyone who lives in Manchester or who has visited for United [or City] matches will know that it’s an inclusive and welcoming city that has been built on the sweat of immigrants, from the hard-working Irish of the Industrial Revolution to the hard-working Indians and Pakistanis who drive the cabs and run the takeaways now.

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said Ratcliffe’s views were “out of step” with Mancunian values, which they absolutely are.

I loved the billboard erected in Manchester in the days after Ratcliffe’s incendiary and divisive views were made public: ‘Immigrants Have Done More For This City Than Billionaire Tax Dodgers Ever Will’.

I was heartened, too, to see Manchester United release an official statement distancing itself from Ratcliffe just hours after his comments came out.

United affirmed its commitment to “equality, diversity and inclusion”, adding: “Our diverse group of players, staff and global community of supporters reflect the history and heritage of Manchester; a city that anyone can call home.” Here, here.

The success of Manchester United FC has been built on working-class immigrants for the past century and more, including fans and players from all over the world.

Ratcliffe’s repugnant words should mean his days at Old Trafford are numbered. I’ll certainly never warm to him now; and hadn’t anyway, even before this.

And don’t even get me started on the irony of a Brit moaning about colonisation. You couldn’t make it up, could you?

Time to sling yer hook, Jim!