A special needs assistant at a school in north Dublin has said a new scheme that would see SNAs redeployed to vacant posts from next September is "very welcome news".
The measures, which will be in place for the next academic year, mean that special needs assistants will not be made redundant if the number of roles allocated to a school changes.
Instead, they will be eligible to be deployed elsewhere at a school where vacancies exist as part of a new scheme announced by Minister for Education Helen McEntee.
The Fórsa union has described the move as "seismic", saying it will provide certainty to thousands of workers.
More than 23,000 SNAs are employed in national and secondary schools around the country.
Delegates at the union's Educational Division conference in Galway have given a broad welcome to the announcement.
Minister McEntee told the conference that the redeployment initiative would enhance the provision of services for children with significant care needs, as well as improving conditions for SNAs.
The minister said this would mean that "essential skills and talent" would not be lost and that the change would also bring better structures for SNAs and the students they assist.
Watch: SNA Linda O'Sullivan says redeployment is 'very welcome news'
Linda O’Sullivan, who works as a SNA in the Finglas area of Dublin, described the development as "massive".
She said all her counterparts were familiar with the anxiety associated with the end of each academic year, when there was uncertainty in relation to the number of places allocated for each school.
"This allow us to do normal life things, like apply for mortgages, and plan for the future," she said.
The head of Fórsa's Educational Division, Andy Pike, said the announcement was long overdue and marked another step towards the full professionalisation of such roles.
Mr Pike said the union had been seeking such a move for decades and that it would bring job security to thousands of SNAs.
The conference has also heard calls for public sector pensions to be made available to school secretaries and caretakers.
Mr Pike said the work carried out by these staff members needed to be properly recognised, so they could enjoy the same pension entitlements as others in their workplace.
Decisions in this regard are a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure, but Ms McEntee said she hoped that recent progress in relation to the payment of secretaries would apply to caretakers and that further advances could be made in due course.
She also told delegates that the planned 'Deis plus’ school support programme would be targeted at those at most risk of educational disadvantage.
The minister said a key part of the initiative would be on tackling absenteeism.
She said the number of children missing more than 20 days from school each year had increased significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In some areas, she added, the absentee rate had more than doubled which she described as unacceptable.
