Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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418. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to consider changing principals allowance to reflect the number of staff managed for special schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65910/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I refer to your recent correspondence in relation to changing Principals allowance in special schools to reflect the number of staff managed .

Pay and workplace reform measures for all public servants, including Principals, have been governed by a framework of public service pay agreements for a number of years. The current pay agreement, Public Service Agreement 2024-2026 is in place until June 2026.

Any further amendments to Teacher Terms and Conditions, including pay and other terms and conditions, can only be achieved through engagement and collective bargaining agreements between the Government and the public service unions or through the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC) forum in the Department of Education.

The TCC is the recognised forum for dealing with matters relating to the pay and conditions of service for teachers paid from monies provided by the Oireachtas. It is independently chaired by an official of the Workplace Relations Commission and comprised of representatives from the Department of Education, the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Teacher Unions and School Management Bodies.

It is open to the relevant parties to the TCC to seek changes to terms and conditions under this process and any such proposals would need to be considered in detail by the Council.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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419. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of changing principals allowance to reflect the number of staff managed for special schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65911/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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My Department continue to review policy and introduce new initiatives to ensure that all students are provided an appropriate education and are supported to reach their full potential and achieve their educational goals.

The current pay agreement, Public Service Agreement (PSA) 2024-2026, contains a local bargaining provision under which employers and trade unions/associations may negotiate additional changes in rates of pay and/or conditions of employment.

As a Principals allowance is one of the matters that may come under consideration under the local bargaining provision of the PSA 2024-2026 and as such matters under industrial relations processes are confidential to the parties it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comment while it remains under consideration.