Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to specifically address this issue because I believe that when it comes to personal assistants, we need to have a consistency of approach throughout the country. I also believe we need to have real engagement with the Fórsa trade union, which has lodged a claim, which is the right and proper way to address this. The Deputy and I have talked about the issue of what we can do in the meantime, and I want to truthfully acknowledge that the Deputy has championed this. I have approved SOLAS to set an hourly rate of €21 under the fund for students with disabilities for personal assistants employed directly by ETBs with effect from 1 March. That is up from an hourly rate of €14.72 now. I will be sharing the details of that with the Deputy shortly, but in recognition of his work, I wanted to update him on that this evening. This is a recognition that, first, we want to increase funding to the fund for students with disabilities and, second, we want to provide SOLAS with the ability to pay a higher hourly rate to those personal assistants directly employed by the ETBs. However, there is a bigger piece of policy work we need to do around personal assistants.

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