Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

The opening statement says that our education system does not have a difficulty with recruitment or retention when it comes to SNAs. I believe the Department would say the same about teachers as well or certainly the Government does when it gets up to speak. How does the Department reconcile that view with what has been said by parents and here earlier by union representatives in relation to the unmet needs in schools, the instability of the SNA job and so on? Would Ms Corcoran accept that the morale of SNAs and the morale of SNAs over the years, as reported to us earlier in the other session, is fundamentally down to the Department of education as their employer? This is exactly what they said: they said they felt unrecognised, undervalued and disrespected both within their schools and also within the Department of Education and Youth. It was reported that each year the NCSE publishes the SNA allocations for schools and SNAs wait anxiously to find out if they will have a job in the forthcoming year. This is extremely unfair to any professional person. They said that they felt excluded from school life and did not believe that were seen as equal members of the school community. They said they are perceived to be unqualified and untrained and are not treated with respect. They also said that they have inferior conditions to teachers. Is that not down to the Department of education?