Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

I have to say that was a strange sole contribution. We have to take people at their word when they come in here. We can assume that SNAs are being given those roles. I have talked to people myself. I congratulate Fórsa on the school secretaries' and caretakers' strike and the progress it made, but during that we spoke to people on the picket lines who talked about principals who are getting student teachers to put bins out. All sorts of things go on in schools and we all know that can happen.

I will talk about the role of the SNA. There is no question that it goes way beyond the physical care needs of students. I was in a secondary school where you would not really be dealing with the care needs of a student. It was more about accompanying students around the school - there can be 1,000 or 1,500 people in some schools now - helping them navigate their way through all the different classes and through noisy corridors, assisting them to stay on task, helping them to emotionally regulate by bringing them out when needed and helping them with the work. I would not be able to help students with some secondary school work in different subjects that I do not teach. That is very demanding. How can you actually help students if you cannot help them with the work? It is way past time that this has happened. SNAs also help the whole class. From my experience, the SNAs knew everyone in the class and helped everyone in the class, in reality.

There is always great concern about feminised workforces. It is the same in teaching. We have this "Oh God, crisis" because there are no male role models. That would be sorted out very quickly with pay. It is that simple word. If we pay people more, men will go into those professions. Obviously, I agree about the career ladder.

I have a couple of questions. On job security, and maybe Mr. Pike could answer this one, why is it that a student is in a school for five to six years, but the SNA is on a year-on-year contract? That does not make any sense and there is no justification for it in terms of the Department of education. Why has that happened?