Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Education and Skills

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider extending
membership of the supplementary assignment panel for special needs assistants
to those who were made redundant prior to 1 May 2013 and SNAs involved in
service in 2012/13 in a suitable capacity as the panel militates unfairly
against such SNAs; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
 

Reply:

As the Deputy will be aware, a new set of proposals for a public service
agreement were put forward by the Labour Relations Commission which now form
the Public Service Stability Agreement 2013-2016 (the Haddington Road
Agreement; copy attached). One aspect of this Agreement relates to
supplementary assignment arrangements for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and
as both Unions that represent SNAs namely, SIPTU and IMPACT, have signed up to
the Haddington Road Agreement, the Department has now implemented supplementary
assignment arrangements for SNAs for the 2013/2014 school year.

The detailed arrangements are set out in Departmental Circular 0037/2013 which
issued on 1 July 2013 (copy attached).

The first part of the LRC proposals for supplementary assignment arrangements
for SNAs outlines that the supplementary assignment arrangements only apply to
current SNAs who are notified that they are to be made redundant.

Accordingly, with effect from 1 May 2013 once an SNA with a minimum of one
year’s service is notified by his/her employer that he/she is to be made
redundant then he/she shall be deemed to be a member of a Supplementary
Assignment Panel for SNAs.

I can inform the Deputy that the 1st of May date was set in Circular 0037/2013
in order to ensure that the overwhelming majority of SNAs who worked in schools
during the past year would be eligible for the supplementary assignment
arrangements, as agreed to in the LRC proposals.

As the LRC proposals are part of a wider public-sector pay agreement that
represent compromises by both employers and unions, I do not have the ability
to alter the terms of that agreement.