Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing the motion before the House. The following may be a cliché, but that is only because it is true. We can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable. Young children with special needs seeking an education are certainly vulnerable. Despite the strength and resolve they demonstrate every day in overcoming obstacles, much of their success is at the whim of those tasked with providing essential services to support them in their education. It then follows that the treatment of those tasked with supporting these children is an indication of how we mean to treat the children. If we offer poor wages and conditions, with instability, to those most valuable assistants for the children concerned, we are setting the bar very low in valuing their efforts.

Frankly, it is a great shame that being a special needs assistant is a role that continues to be unstable and unreliable for those work in it. It is a matter of policy. It has been decided that these roles are not worth ensuring or protecting and those who work in them are expendable because the children they assist are less valuable. Instead of valuing these workers, we take them for granted. They deserve stable work and decent conditions. The children for whom they work deserve to know that they will receive assistance when they need it. Instead, special needs assistants' hours have been cut. That is why in the run-up to the last budget Sinn Féin indicated that money was available to employ an additional 500 SNAs at a cost of approximately €20 million. Unfortunately, the proposal was ignored and instead the Government cut the universal social charge for higher earners.

There are 14,000 SNAs in the State and they do not have job security or the support to provide the assistance that they know young people for whom they work will need. They are being asked to take on new responsibilities as part of a reform process. They will have to broaden their role and will need to meet a higher bar of qualification. This may be what is best for the service, but we cannot ask more and give nothing. We need more SNAs who must have more security than before. If their role is to be expanded, support by way of professional development should also be provided. I support the motion and ask all others to do so also.

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