Education (Leave for Injuries) Bill 2025: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel I am pleased to have co-sponsored Senator Harmon's Bill. I acknowledge the work of Sophie, who is in the Chamber, and the work of my friend Samantha O'Flanagan and what she has done in Fórsa. I am very conscious of the sensitivity and complexity of the issue before us. As we have heard in all of the contributions this evening, SNAs and teachers do vital work supporting children with additional needs to reach their full potential, as Senator Clonan so eloquently put it, and to learn and thrive in an inclusive environment. In some instances their work is not without risk. Schools must be safe places for children and for the adults who care for, teach and support them. However, across our education system teachers, SNAs and other school staff are being injured in the course of their work and in many cases these incidents involve children with additional needs who themselves require care, understanding and appropriate supports and those supports are not always available in the schools. I have heard of one SNA, Donna, who had her shoulder injured when attempting to support a 12-year-old boy in a sensory tunnel. The boy panicked, kicked out and accidentally injured her. Devastatingly, because of the aches and pains from her shoulder, which she assumed were a consequence of being kicked, Donna missed an early diagnosis of cancer in her shoulder and she is still suffering form that. My Social Democrats colleague, Councillor Jesslyn Henry, is here this evening. She has faced significant injuries in the course of her work as an SNA. At her first meeting of Dublin City Council she was unable to speak because her jaw was locked following her being punched in the face and dragged to the floor in the classroom earlier that day. Jesslyn has told me of a huge list of injuries she has faced in the workplace, including being pushed into iron railings and being badly bruised. She has had to have her neck in a brace because she has been dragged to the ground several times. As we have heard from many contributors to this debate, Jesslyn and all the SNAs I have spoken to are at pains to reinforce this is not the child’s fault and wish to reaffirm the children are not to blame. These incidents happen because of dysregulation, because children are not having their needs met and quite frankly it is a direct consequence of the State’s failure to provide adequate services, supports and appropriate school places. I am also appalled by the SNA reduction letter received last week by schools across the country. I appreciate there has been a pause, which I welcome, but a measure reducing SNAs in schools would make classrooms less safe for SNAs, teachers, children with additional needs and children in mainstream classes because there will be fewer SNAs around to do the Trojan work they are doing to support children in having sensory function and not being dysregulated. SNAs are doing a whole range of work. That could be movement breaks, sensory breaks, quiet time and a long list of other crucial tasks. In many cases we see SNAs doing medical interventions because there is no appropriate supports as schools do not have nurses, even though we are told the school nurse should be doing toilet breaks for non-toileted children. This reduction in SNAs was a slap in the face to hardworking staff in schools supporting children with those needs, so as I said I welcome the pause. I welcome the Trojan work of Fórsa and SNAs for their successful campaign to have that decision paused. Just because an injury caused by a child was not the result of an intention to hurt their SNA or teacher does not mean school staff should have to accept it and receive no support from the State. Fórsa had a survey which showed 69% of SNAs reported being injured due to an assault – a word I use cautiously – and some 47% of respondents required medical treatment after that and 37% required hospital care. SNAs, just like any worker, have the right to be protected in their workplace and their employer has a legal obligation to make the workplace as safe as is reasonably practicable. Staff who are hurt in work are placed in an impossible position. Unless they leave immediately after the injury they may be denied any paid leave. This is an outrageous system because in many instances an injury might not be immediately recognisable. Back or neck injuries might not until a few days afterward, especially if we take into consideration adrenaline response and especially the human response to keep going, not let colleagues down and not let the children they are working with down. If someone delays taking leave while trying to manage their pain or injury, the system effectively penalises them for that choice. That is not compassion and it is not fairness and that is why we need to change it. The Bill recognises workplace injuries require a human and realistic response. It acknowledges that trauma and injury do not always present themselves immediately and that workers should not be forced to make snap decisions while in shock or pain for fear of losing their income. It says that if you are injured in work you should be able to take leave and get the medical care you need without being out of pocket or fearing you may face a financial cliff edge when the paid leave comes to an end. I really welcome that this Bill seeks to remove the word “assault” from the circular. It is wrong this word is used in most instances where an injury has been caused by a child who is dysregulated and might be feeling unsafe or scared. This child does not intend to injure those who provide care for them and as I mentioned in the context of the planned cuts to the SNA allocation, in the past few days we have heard so many parents talk about the incredible relationship between their children and the SNAs who work with them and that the SNAs are crucial to providing a feeling of safety for the children. This Bill says care must flow in all directions; not just from SNAs to children but from the State to SNAs. We cannot ask staff to support children with complex needs without also supporting the staff themselves. We cannot champion inclusion while ignoring the physical and psychological cost borne by those providing care and we cannot continue to rely on goodwill, silence and self-sacrifice as substitutes for proper workplace protections. --- 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