The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme has been in existence in Ireland, in various different iterations, since 1979. This article presents a critical policy analysis of two iterations of the scheme, operational between 1998 and 2014, using a hybrid analytical framework. It highlights the contextual factors influencing those iterations, presents an interdiscursive analysis of the key policy texts and highlights the scheme's many consequences using secondary data from two key Irish Government agencies. It is postulated that cyclical analytical frameworks are most effective at evaluating iterative special education policies, like the SNA scheme, because they allow sufficient scope to demonstrate that the consequence of one iteration ultimately becomes the context for the next. This article also shows that, while the provision of inclusive education for children with special educational needs in mainstream classes may have been an objective of the scheme, the extent to which that was realised is arguable.