Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I support the comments she made about the importance and significance of the work that is done by school escorts. However, before I address the specific issue, I will provide an outline of the extent of the school transport system.

The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020-21 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country, at a cost of over €224.7 million in 2020. There exists within the special needs transport scheme the appointment of a school bus escort where a child's care and safety needs while on school transport are such as to require the support of an escort. The purpose of Circular 0024/21 is to inform hourly-paid bus escorts in recognised primary, secondary and community and comprehensive schools of the changes to pay arrangements for hourly-paid bus escorts with effect from the commencement of the 2021-22 academic year.

The hourly rates paid to bus escorts have heretofore included an element in respect of annual leave. This practice is known as "rolled-up holiday pay". The effect of the circular is to cease the practice of paying rolled-up holiday pay to such staff and to introduce a separate payment in respect of holiday pay. This change is being made to bring the method of remunerating such staff into line with the European Union working time directive, following a decision of the European Commission. It is important to note that the change should not result in the overall remuneration of such staff being changed. The pay of a staff member under the new arrangements set out in the circular in respect of any period of employment should be equal to the pay which the staff member would have received for the corresponding period of employment under the pre-existing arrangements.

However, the Department has recently received a number of queries from school authorities who are experiencing anomalies in terms of pay and annual leave when trying to implement the criteria set down in circular 0024/2021. In response to these queries the Department has carried out a full review of the circular and has identified that the calculation method in the circular was based on previous similar circulars for other school staff. However, as bus escorts can work outside usual school hours, this results in an incorrect calculation. The Department apologises for any inconvenience or confusion that has arisen in schools as a result. The Department is currently amending Circular 0024/2021.It is expected that the revised version will be published next week to ensure the correct approach is followed.