Mr. Andy Pike:

I thank the Deputy for her questions. We are not aware of problems with SNAs working within summer provision programmes. It has always been the case that, if an SNA wants to work in a school, he or she needs to be Garda vetted. That will often mitigate against SNAs working in new schools where their Garda vetting certificates have not been issued within the past two years and they need to be vetted again. Where programmes are put in place at the last minute, as has happened in recent years, there may be a recruitment problem. There is a recruitment problem in home provision, which we touched on a few minutes ago.

Regarding CPD, an important debate is ongoing about the accreditation of qualifications for SNAs.

We appeared before the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in June on that very issue. There is a great deal that the Government could do to ensure that appropriate accredited training is made available to special needs assistants, SNAs, and to ensure its uptake by facilitating release against the obligation to be available for an additional 72 hours each year of non-classroom time. That time could be used a great deal more for continuing professional development, CPD.

Looking at the Deputy’s suggestion for a separate system for July provision, we can think about a safety net service, where entreaties are made to a school to provide a summer provision programme, and it is just not possible in a certain location where the school cannot take it on. Does the Government have a responsibility to step in and make provision available? Yes, the Government does. How can that be done and what levers are there? There is the National Council for Special Education and there are also the education and training boards, which could be asked, or if necessary instructed, to provide something by way of a summer provision programme. We have education centres in every county which could be used. These programmes do not necessarily have to take place on school premises. It would be better if they did but, as a safety net, there is a great deal more that could be done with a little imagination.

I would caution against the committee concluding that this is all the fault of staff or schools. It is not. We would be in a better position to respond to questions if the invitation to attend had directed us towards this particular issue but it did not. It is not listed as one of the topics which the committee necessarily want to focus on. I am a bit concerned that we are in a situation where the Department of Education issues notification very late. There are always many queries about how to provide a programme. There are resource problems and we may be moving into the space where the sole issue is what we need to do to ensure teachers and SNAs agree to work on the programmes. This, if anything, is a failure of Government, rather than a failure of staff or individuals.