South and East Belfast Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Maskey Welcomes Meeting Between Classroom Assistants and Education Minister

Published: 9 October, 2007

South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey has welcomed the meeting which took place today between Education Minister Caitríona Ruane and Classroom Assistants.

Speaking after the meeting, Caitríona Ruane said:

"We spoke about the dispute and our respective understanding of the revised offer of 28 September. I listened to their concerns and I told them that I believed this dispute has gone on too long.

"My priority is to ensure classroom assistants receive the money they are entitled to as quickly as possible. This needs to be settled as soon as possible to avoid further disruption to the education of our children. A substantially increased offer has been made and I have announced a review of support staff in schools.

"I emphasised that no classroom assistant will lose any pay and no-one will be forced to work longer hours. In addition, there will be full salary and pension protection. I repeated my belief that all unions should consider this offer."

Commenting on the meeting Mr Maskey said:

"I welcome this meeting. It is my understanding that there is a lot of confusion amongst classroom assistants and indeed parents of children for whom the classroom assistants do invaluable work.

I trust that this meeting has cleared some of that confusion and has allayed some of the concerns that this has caused."