Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I raised this issue with the Minister yesterday at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. At the outset I must state that the Department's treatment of SNAs has been appalling over the most recent period in terms of the lack of respect shown to them. I refer to the redeployment debacle, the issues around face coverings and then, when there is an ongoing discussion between the Department and the Fórsa trade union over the issue of these 72 hours, with the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, a letter arrived last week detailing issues referred to in Circular 0071/2011. At the end of that letter, the Department says that disciplinary procedures are available to employers under the same circular in the event of the failure of an SNA to perform a contractual obligation.

I am blue in the face listening to political representatives saying every day of the week that teachers are heroes, SNAs are heroes and every front-line worker is a hero. At the same time the Department issues a threatening letter regarding the 72 hours that it feels SNAs should be doing outside of their ordinary working day. We are in the middle of a pandemic and the Department knows that these 72 hours are controversial. We know that it is a contractual requirement for SNAs to fulfil these 72 hours but it is understandable that the trade union would suggest that these 72 hours are not required in a level 4 or level 5 scenario because being in a school or workplace setting is not safe for those workers. Into that mix, the Department predictably makes a bags of its communication to patron bodies and individual school principals.

This letter needs to be withdrawn and the Department needs to apologise for it. The Minister must state quite categorically in this Chamber that no SNA is required to do any hours outside of contact work with vulnerable students during a restrictive lockdown such as level 4 or level 5.

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