Some special need assistants (SNAs) are to be temporarily redeployed across the rest of the public sector to help frontline staff dealing with the coronavirus.
Staff not required for educational or research purposes will be asked to be on standby for reassignment elsewhere to "free up frontline workers for essential services", the Government has announced.
There are around 16,000 special needs assistants in Ireland, but it's expected the number reassigned will be much smaller.
It comes as schools in Ireland remain closed until at least April 20th in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus in communities.
Community services for children with a disability will be a 'priority area' in the redeployment effort, as well as remote supports (such as video calls to offer advice on topics such as home schooling) to families of children who the SNAs are familiar with.
All SNAs will first be asked to fill out an online questionnaire, with officials saying they will then “check skills and match them with requirements” before making any reassignment decisions.
While all SNAs are being asked to be on standby, Liz Canavan from the Department of the Taoiseach said it's currently envisaged that there will only be a small number of staff reassigned.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Joe McHugh explained: “SNAs do fantastic work day in day out for children with a variety of needs in our schools. Their support hugely enriches the lives of children.
“Crucially, they have much-needed skills and experience which can be of huge benefit to other services and I believe will be of great support to the national effort.
“I know this is a new departure for many people but opening up a temporary assignment scheme is about giving some workers the opportunity to be on standby to help others in great need.”
His department noted that staff who have been reassigned can return to their original jobs “where the need arises”.
It comes as part of a wider temporary assignment scheme for public sector employees who currently aren’t able to attend their usual job, with staff being redeployed to assist in areas such as contact tracing and dealing with the increase in social welfare applications.
