Fine Gael TD Candidate and Lord Mayor Ray McAdam Refuses to Sign SNA Pledge
At a meeting on Wednesday organised by the Save our SNAs campaign, Dublin Lord Mayor Ray McAdam refused to sign a pledge presented by campaigners.
Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam was the only candidate in the race for Dublin Central to refuse to sign a pledge in support of SNAs at an event last night, drawing rebuke that may spell trouble for the current Lord Mayor’s by-election chances.
At the event hosted by Save our SNAs, all other candidates in the race signed the pledge which promises to support the formal redefinition of the role of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in Irish schools.
Defending his refusal, McAdam said: “In 17 years at election time, I've never signed a pledge, no matter how much I may have agreed with it. But I don't, and I'm not going to start.”
“I believe in honest commitment and real delivery, and I hope from what you've heard tonight, that's what I'm all about.”
This was met with whispered urges to “fuck off” from attendees.
McAdam was then challenged from the audience by chair of Families Unite for Services and Support (FUSS) Rachel Martin on Fine Gael’s “undeliverable” programme for in-school therapists.
“Anyone who has an understanding of the system understands that that's not deliverable.”
“Anyone that has an understanding of the system understands that the programme you want to deliver is actually not deliverable based on the numbers that we currently have working in the system. And that includes the private system as well as if you look at how many graduate every year.”
“We could recruit every year for the next 10 years and not have enough to deliver to CDNT [Children's Disability Network Teams] alone, let alone the Department of Education education system.”
“So I'm just wondering how you can campaign on a promise to deliver a system that's not actually deliverable,” Martin asked, prompting widespread applause.
“That's feedback that I’ll take up with the Minister for Education” was McAdam’s short response.
The alternative circular which Save our SNAs are campaigning for, formally recognises that Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) provide crucial support for behavior, regulation, and learning, in schools, and seeks to replace the current narrow Dept of Education definition.
