Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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479. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason teachers are allowed to count their lunch breaks as part of their working day and special needs assistants are not; and his views on whether this is a form of discrimination against SNAs. [25906/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Break entitlements for employees are set out in Section 12 of the Organisation of Working Time of Working Time Act, 1997: Section 12 (1) - "An employer shall not require an employee to work for a period of more than 4 hours and 30 minutes without allowing him or her a break of at least 15 minutes."Section 12 (2) – "An employer shall not require an employee to work for a period of more than 6 hours without allowing him or her a break of at least 30 minutes; such a break may include the break referred to in subsection (1)"These break entitlements apply equally to all employees.

It is a matter for the school/ETB as the employer to ensure that they comply with the relevant legislation in terms of break entitlements for staff in their employment.