Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the length of time it is taking for special needs assistants who were made redundant to receive redundancy payments from him; the terms of these redundancies; the efforts he is making to speed up the payment of such redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25663/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Applications for redundancy / partial redundancy for Special Needs Assistants are being received by my Department on an ongoing basis. Applications are processed in date order of receipt and every effort is being made to process these applications as quickly as possible. Applications received in mid-November 2010 are currently being processed.

The priority of my Department's Payroll Division over the past 2 months has been to ensure that replacement teachers and special need assistants being appointed for the 2011/2012 school year are placed on payroll for payment. This process is now nearing completion. Over the coming weeks, extra resources will be assigned to try and ensure that special needs assistants that are made redundant will have their claims for payment processed as quickly as possible.