Written Answers Nos. 296-306
305. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Education the steps she is taking to identify and address gender pay disparity in her Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under her remit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17354/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraRecruitment of staff to my Department is generally through the Public Appointments Service (PAS) which is the centralised provider of recruitment, assessment and selection services across the Civil Service. All recruitment activities by the PAS are underpinned by their Equality, Inclusion and Diversity strategy 2021-2023 which identifies the key strategic priorities of greater knowledge and understanding of diversity in the recruitment market and the Irish public sector and also recruitment and selection processes that encourage and enable access to candidates from diverse backgrounds. In the case of internal promotion competitions all internal interview board members are required to participate in unconscious bias training to eliminate gender stereotyping and encourage diversity in recruitment.
My Department has been represented on a civil service Gender Pay Gap Interdepartmental working group since May 2021. The Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 will require employers to report on the gender pay gap in organisations and to provide details of measures being taken to reduce the gap. Both my Department and the public bodies and agencies under the remit of my Department will comply with these requirements when they are in place.
306. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education if she will respond to concerns raised by a person (details supplied) in respect of a special needs assistant allocation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17366/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.
SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school. SNAs should be deployed in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school. It should be noted that not every student with a special educational need requires SNA support.
Where a school considers that it requires additional SNA support to meet the needs of its students, it can seek a review from the NCSE.
