Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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313. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to urgently review pay and conditions in respect of SNAs and take into consideration the type of work they carry out on a daily basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67030/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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SNAs are valued members of our school communities who carry out vital work in our schools supporting students with diverse needs. The Government is committed to the delivery of quality public services and continues to approach public service pay in a balanced way that is reasonable and fair to both public servants and to the taxpayer. This has been achieved through a series of national collective agreements, agreed between trade unions and the Government, applying across the public sector.

Circular 0056/2025 confirms that SNAs are covered under the Public Service Agreement 2024–2026 (PSA) which applies to all public servants. The PSA builds on the previous agreement “Building Momentum” which ended in 2023 to provide for a number of pay increases that have been approved by Government. The pay element of the PSA includes further increases of 9.25% up to June 2026.

As is standard practice, discussions with public service unions continue on all matters relating to pay agreements. Any review of terms and conditions including pay and pensions for SNAs will follow these established processes and be considered in detail by the Department of Education and Youth, the Department of Public Expenditure Infrastructure Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and the relevant unions.

The terms and conditions of employment for Special Needs Assistants are issued in accordance with their individual SNA contracts. Please refer to Circulars 15/2005 and 12/2005 for further details. My department has commenced work on the first SNA Workforce Development Plan which includes a review of the SNA employment contract. The review of the SNA employment contract is a commitment set out in the (previous) public service pay agreement Building Momentum 1 and Building Momentum 2 Clause 1.5.3 (2). The most recent Public Service Agreement 2024 to 2026, outlines that the SNA contract review is one of key elements of the Government’s Reform Agenda.

The review involves an update of provisions in the existing SNA employment contract to comply with current employment legislation and align with other work on the plan. More information on the SNA Workforce Development plan is available on the SNA Information Hub on www.gov.ie.