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). 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 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 and which is available on the Department's website at the following address: http://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Active-Circulars/cl0037_2013.pdf.
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. With the exception of SNAs who have been re-employed on permanent contracts or have chosen to opt out of the panel in accordance with the terms of Paragraph 39 of the circular, all SNAs who have been made redundant since 1 May 2013 are members of the SNA Supplementary Assignment Panel.
SNAs who were made redundant prior to 1 May 2013 are free to apply for SNA positions. However, the revised rules on SNA recruitment are as set out in Departmental Circular 37/2013, the purpose of which is to facilitate those SNAs who are notified that they are to be made redundant in filling SNA vacancies which become available in other schools / ETBs. Accordingly, those SNAs who are members of the SNA Supplementary Assignment Panel are afforded preferential treatment in the filling of SNA vacancies. For the 2013/2014 school year a list of SNAs who have been deemed to be members of the Supplementary Assignment Panel will not be made or kept by the Department of Education and Skills.
Eligibility for SNA vacancies is not confined to panel members and when advertising an SNA position, a school is obliged to list any essential qualifications that are required to fill the vacancy in addition to any specific competencies and/or requirements to meet the special educational needs of the pupil(s). If an employer does not receive an application for a vacancy from an SNA who is a member of the panel or if having interviewed all such applicants, it has been established that no such applicant can meet the essential qualifications that are required to fill the vacancy in addition to all specific competencies and/or requirements to meet the special educational needs of the pupil(s) then the employer can fill its vacancy in the normal manner from all the other applicants for the vacancy. 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.
