Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I urge all special needs assistants in the country to get organised if they are not already organised. They should join a union if they are not already members of a union.

The special needs allocation for schools for the following year was announced in the month of July in each of the years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 - four years in a row. When SNA allocations are announced in July, it creates tremendous uncertainty for the individual SNAs. It means they finish the previous school year without knowing if they will be back in September. It also creates uncertainty for the school and students. That is the essence of precarious work.

I wish to highlight the precarious nature of this work. Where a school allocation is reduced the SNA will lose the job. The SNA then has to go on a panel and apply for jobs in the locality. However, to go on the panel the SNA must have one year of service. However, the SNA cannot include, as part of one year of service, any work done while substituting for maternity leave, sick leave, career breaks, job sharing and so on. This really underlines the need for permanent contracts.

On account of such experiences, more and more SNAs are joining unions. Late last year, SNAs balloted for strike action on precisely this issue. The vote was not 50% plus 1%. It was not 60% or 70%, which would be high for a strike ballot. In fact, 97% voted in favour. What happened this year? Two things happened this year. First, 940 new posts were announced for the following year. The announcement was not made in July or June but in the month of May, which is when it should always have taken place. I am strongly of the view that would not have happened were it not for the fact that SNAs joined trade unions and balloted by 97% in favour of strike action. It is a glimpse of what people can achieve when they organise and join a union. This approach now needs to be extended to all the other key issues facing SNAs.

I wish to conclude on the question of training. Many people have the idea that SNAs are poorly qualified. SNAs are far from poorly qualified. The notes I have before me will prove it. A survey was organised by the education division of Fórsa earlier this year. The union surveyed 2,700 SNAs. The majority had been in the job for ten years or more. The survey found that 97% of SNAs hold qualifications beyond the required Further Education and Training Awards Council level 3, which requires three junior certificate grade Ds or equivalent. A majority held either FETAC level 5 or level 6. Some 11% had attained an ordinary degree and 10% had attained an honours degree. A further 10% had a leaving certificate. Yet, the position is that the vast majority of SNAs who have undertaken extra training over and above that level have self-financed the training or have been assisted by the trade union movement. The amount of official training provided by the Department and the system as well as the amount of professional development, let alone continuing professional development, is negligible in comparison. This situation needs to end. We need recognition of the qualifications of SNAs. We need to improve upon it by putting training and facilities in place. If the Minister and the Department do not deliver on that, the unions should force change on the issue as they have done on the timing of allocations.

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