Sinn Féin spokesperson on Education Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire TD has called on the Minister of State for Special Education Josepha Madigan to urgently intervene to ensure all school staff who facilitated the Summer Provision programme are “paid promptly for their hard work”.
 
The Cork South-Central TD said:
 
“Year on year, education staff were being paid as late as October or November for work they completed on the Summer Provision programme in June and July. This was incredibly frustrating for staff, and was acting as a disincentive to facilitating this important programme.
 
“In May of this year, the Minister of State for Special Education Josepha Madigan made a commitment that these issues would be addressed, and that staff would receive earlier payment for their work on Summer Provision.
 
“I am hearing from school staff on the ground, however, that this commitment has not been kept, and that many school staff are still waiting to hear when they are going to get paid. This work was completed in the summer and we are now nearing Christmas. This is not good enough.
 
“School staff are understandably frustrated by this broken promise, having volunteered their summers to facilitate this crucially important programme.
 
“Many had counted on earlier payment this year, and budgeted accordingly. Many staff are also facing significant administrative difficulties when applying for their pay.
 
“It is disrespectful that the Minister seems to have done nothing to fix the late payment this year, knowing teachers and SNAs will put up with the poor treatment and continue to facilitate the programme, as they care deeply about their students and want to support them.
 
“Indeed, it is hard to see how we can continue to incentivise staff to facilitate Summer Provision, when commitments made for earlier payment have been broken, and staff are facing significant administrative hurdles to receive their hard-earned pay.
 
“I have written to Minister Madigan, urging her to intervene to ensure that Summer Provision staff are paid as soon as possible. It is unfair to leave them in the lurch like this.”