Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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482. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which parents can meet the deadline when the system is not equipped to provide documentation which is a legal requirement (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48093/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is a priority for this Government. It is also a key priority for me, my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

Minister McEntee and I asked that the Department and the NCSE bring forward all timelines for the 2026/2027 school year to ensure better planning and to ensure that parents and children are accepted into new special classes at a much earlier point. That has been done and a new date of 1 October 2025 has been set by which parents and schools need to have contacted the NCSE if looking for a special class/school placement for the 2026/27 school year.

This is four months earlier than the timeline for this year. I have also asked the NCSE to work with schools to sanction the majority of new special classes for the 2026/2027 school year by 31 December 2025 and this aim is outlined for schools and education stakeholders in my department’s recent circular letter.

I want to assure families, like the family referred to by the Deputy, that the NCSE will continue as they have done last year, to support families coming forward to them after the 1st October cut-off point. The NCSE will continue to support these families secure a special class place for the 2026/2027 school year where possible. Alternatively, if no special class place is available, the NCSE will work to support children in mainstream settings. The NCSE report that there are a number of vacant places in special classes in many parts of the country.

My department and the NCSE engage on a weekly basis in relation to the forward planning of special class and special school provision to meet the present, and future need, of children with special educational needs.

Parents can make initial contact, submit reports and provide consent forms directly via the NCSE’s ncse.ie/notify-ncse-special-class-special-schoolemailing parentsnotify@ncse.ie or calling 01 603 3346.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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483. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will ensure parity of health and safety leave entitlements between special needs assistants, SNAs, and teaching staff; to explain the rationale for the existing 21-day cap on such leave for pregnant SNAs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48097/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007) place an obligation on the employer, as soon as it is notified by the special needs assistant that she is pregnant, to assess any specific risk in the workplace to that special needs assistant and to ensure that the pregnant, post-natal, or breastfeeding special needs assistant is not exposed to any agents, processes or working conditions that will damage either the safety or health of the pregnant special needs assistant and/or that of the developing child.

The special needs assistant should be informed of the results of the risk assessment and the measures to be taken. The detailed arrangement regarding the respective responsibilities of the employer and the special needs assistant in relation to health and safety leave are contained in Sections 17 – 20 of the Maternity Protection Act 1994.

Where a risk has been identified and it is not possible to remove it, protective and preventive measures should be taken to safeguard the health of any special needs assistant to whom the provisions apply, such as:

(a) a temporary adjustment in the working environment of the special needs assistant concerned so that exposure to the risk is avoided, or

(b) in the event that such adjustment is not possible, by moving the special needs assistant to suitable alternative work which does not entail the risk, or

(c) in the event that such alternative work is not available, and having consulted with and received certification from the OHS, by granting the special needs assistant health and safety leave.

Health and Safety Leave will cease when:

(a) the special needs assistant concerned commences maternity leave, or

(b) the special needs assistant is no longer an employee to whom Part III of the Maternity Protection Act, 1994 applies (i.e. she notifies the employer that she is not pregnant, has not given birth within the last fourteen weeks or is not within 26 weeks of the birth and breastfeeding, as defined in the Act); or

(c) the risk ceases.

Currently SNAs are entitled to full salary for the first 21 days while on Health and Safety Leave. This is a statutory entitlement and is noted in ncse.ie/notify-ncse-special-class-special-school. After 21 days, an SNA may be entitled to Health and Safety benefit from the Department of Social Protection, subject to certain eligibility criteria.

Fórsa have submitted a claim to my Department for an increase in the provision of Health and Safety Leave for SNA’s. However, the terms of the current Public Service Pay agreement, which covers the period from the 1st of January 2024 to the 30th of June 2026, set out that the parties to the agreement agreed that no cost increasing claims for improvements in pay terms and conditions of employment will be initiated or implemented for the duration of the Agreement. As such, the claim made by Fórsa is prohibited under the terms of the current pay agreement.

Under the terms of the Agreement, employers and trade unions/associations may negotiate additional changes in rates of pay and/or conditions of employment up to a maximum of 3% of the basic pay cost, inclusive of allowances in the nature of pay, of the particular grade, group or category of employee or bargaining unit. This may include proposals involving changes in structures, work practices or other conditions of service. However, Fórsa have not sought to have changes to the Maternity Health and Safety Leave Scheme for SNAs considered under this provision.