Education (Leave for Injuries) Bill 2025: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Evanne Ní Chuilinn (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach I promise it will not take me longer than that. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Gabhaim buíochas leis as ucht a bheith anseo. Molaim an obair atá déanta ag an Seanadóir Harmon ar an mBille seo. Is saothar suntasach é agus leagann sé béim ar an dualgas atá orainn mar reachtóirí iad siúd atá ag obair sa chóras oideachais a chosaint ó dhíobháil, bíodh sé d'aon ghnó nó ná bíodh. I commend Senator Harmon on her work on the Bill. She is supported by Senators Stephenson, Noonan and Cosgrove. I also welcome Sophie Cole and our guests in the Gallery, who are the people doing the work we are speaking about tonight. We have a duty of care to the people who are working in our education settings. I say "education settings" quite deliberately because I believe that teachers and SNAs should have equality of access to any expanded supports that we agree to. I note that in the speech from the Department delivered by the Minister earlier, two separate schemes were referred to, one for teachers and SNAs and another one that was just for teachers. It is important that the outcome of any scheme we debate or develop in this House is made available equally to SNAs and teachers. My mam was a full-time music teacher in secondary school for most of her career. She took some time out to work when my siblings and I came along. When she went back, it was not long before she retrained as an SNA. At that point, she spent a wonderful time working with a young boy right through his primary school and into secondary school. He is now a young man. She absolutely loved that work. His mother and my mam are still friends and he is still friends with her as well. She brought him through his school life. That time was so special for both of them. My mam is a qualified secondary school teacher. She was also a qualified special needs assistant. She did not become a lesser educator when she started working as an SNA. It is really important that whatever we do, we have SNAs and teachers on an equal footing. My mam's vocation never wavered, changed or became something less when she retrained as an SNA. One of the most important parts of the Bill is the call for equal treatment under the scheme for teachers and SNAs. I voice my support for the premise of the Bill and I put on record my gratitude to teachers, SNAs and all ancillary service providers in all of our schools and education settings throughout the country. We have had a week of miscommunication, confusion and undue stress, all while teachers and SNAs are trying to enjoy a mid-term break. I am really conscious of this and I take the opportunity to say this. Our educators are the best of us and our children's lives are richer because of those people and the work they do. We owe it to them to seriously consider, debate and explore the detail of this legislation so that we can properly provide this duty of care and meaningful leave for injuries. I support the statement the Minister made, that she has tasked the Department with examining options to ensure that access to treatment and support is provided without delay or financial hardship. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-18