Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 July 2013
237. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has received a request from a board of management of a school (details supplied) to change the seniority of two special needs assistants; if he has considered this request which is supported by both SNAs; if this is not possible the reasons seniority changed [36566/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraA request was submitted by the Principal of the school, referred to by the Deputy, to my Department and a reply issued on the 28th May. The Principal also spoke to officials in my Department last week. On both occasions the Principal was informed that the terms of the nationally agreed redundancy arrangements for SNAs, as outlined in Circular 58/2006, must apply to redundant posts. One of the conditions is that the most junior post is the post to be made redundant when the allocation to the school is reduced. It is not possible to amend the rules governing the redundancy scheme for this case. There have been other requests from SNAs and schools to vary the terms of the seniority arrangement for redundancy purposes and these have been refused.
