The Government is set to announce the number of special needs assistants in schools will increase next month.

An extra 115 are to be appointed in January after the approval of Cabinet.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the Government wants to ensure every child who needs an SNA has one.

“We’ve had an increase in SNAs every year now for a number of years,” he said.

“We now have more special needs assistants than we have members of the Gardaí, or indeed doctors.

“If you like, it shows you the commitment of Government to giving every child who has a particular assessed challenge or difficulty an opportunity to benefit from that.”