Sir, – Jim Mulkerrins (June 18th) states that reductions in special needs assistant posts are not contemplated by the Department of Education.
Yet with one week to go before the primary school summer break, many parents have yet to hear if they will be allocated the same level of care that their children received last year.
There are also many special needs assistants who have yet to hear if they will have a job in August. Many have been told that the situation is looking grim and they might have to go on a panel for one year, unpaid, when a post might pop up, before they are entitled to redundancy, thus kicking the “job losses” factor down the road, while maintaining a facade of having the same amount of posts in the system.
The delay in informing parents and employees of their futures is unfair. – Yours, etc,
CONAN DOYLE,
Pococke Lower,
Kilkenny.