Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I remember that day very well and also the Deputy quoting Mark Twain. I think the quote was about the two most important times in our lives being the day we are born and the day we find out why we were born. I will not say what the Deputy told me about that second day but she may tell her constituents in private. She did not say she was born to meet me, to be clear - she gave a different reason.

I agree with the Deputy that this is a really important area. The special needs assistant scheme has been a major factor in ensuring the successful integration of children with special educational needs into mainstream education and the provision of support to pupils enrolled in special schools and classes. This support is very much valued by students, parents and schools, as they provide an indispensable service. Increased investment has allowed the Government to increase the number of SNAs by 42%, from 10,575 in 2011 to 15,000 by the end of this year. A further 950 SNA posts are being made available for allocation in budget 2019, increasing employment opportunities in this important field of employment.

The current public service collective industrial relations agreement, known as the public service stability agreement, PSSA, was reached with the public service trade unions in June 2017 and is due to run until 31 December 2020. The pay benefits of the PSSA range progressively from 7.2% to 6.2% over the three years from 2018 to 2020. At the end of the agreement, FEMPI pay cuts will have been restored in full to 90% of all public servants. With regard to the issue of new entrant pay, the measures recently agreed between the parties to the PSSA provide a credible pathway to addressing new entrant pay and represent a fair and reasonable outcome for the approximately 5,000 new entrant SNA recruits since January 2011.

My Department has put in place supplementary assignment arrangements for SNAs on foot of proposals brought forward by the Labour Relations Commission. These arrangements give priority to serving special needs assistants when work is being allocated and enhance the SNAs’ working conditions. The arrangement has been demonstrated to work effectively for SNAs and schools.

In 2016, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, was requested to lead a comprehensive review of the SNA scheme. The review set out to ensure that the scheme is achieving the best outcomes possible for children with special educational needs, supported by the special needs assistants. The review was published on 30 May 2018.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

One of the review’s recommendations is for a new allocation model which would front-load supports into schools. Such a model would remove the existing need for assessments for many students and ensure the support is available to them as soon as they arrive in school. If implemented, it would also substantially further improve job security for SNAs in schools, ensuring greater certainty for them regarding their employment status.

The review also recommends ongoing professional development options for SNAs be provided. The training and development recommendations made by the NCSE review are in recognition of the fundamental importance of building schools’ capacity to meet additional care needs of students. These and other recommendations of the review are currently under consideration. I am committed to the continued effective operation of the SNA scheme in consultation with education partners.

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