MORE THAN a quarter of the educational welfare officers in the State enjoy the same summer holidays as primary school teachers.
The National Educational Welfare Board has confirmed that 19 of its 72 educational welfare officers have their leave aligned to primary school holidays.
Their working day is from 9am to 4.30pm with 30 minutes for lunch, and they are entitled to two months' holiday each summer, in addition to prolonged Easter and Christmas holidays.
The remaining 53 educational welfare officers are employed under the standard public sector conditions of 25 annual leave days, plus two privilege days, and a working day of 9.15am to 5.30pm.
The anomaly came to light when the Labour TD for Cork North Central Kathleen Lynch made representations on behalf of a family in her constituency who had two children with special needs requirements.
Ms Lynch was told the officer dealing with the case was on holiday and would not be returning until the end of August.
Ms Lynch said when she made further inquiries she discovered that six of the eight staff in the Cork office were on holiday until the end of August.
The situation came as a result of former school attendance officers being transferred to the new agency as education welfare officers when it was being established in 2002.
A spokeswoman for the board said yesterday that the legislation establishing the board had guaranteed that former school attendance officers would not be subject to less beneficial conditions of service.
In effect, it meant that the attendance officers who had the same conditions as primary teachers continued to enjoy those conditions.
Ms Lynch said last night that the situation in the Cork office needed to be addressed. "Six out of the eight are gone for the summer at the very time when these kids need help.
These two children with special needs had not been accommodated at the end of June and the officer was on holidays."
My Lynch said once she made representations the senior officer in Cork had responded immediately in a very professional manner. But she expressed concern about the lack of cover in summer months when parents were desperately trying to find places for children in schools.
The spokeswoman for the board said the services do prioritise availability of staff during school term and cover was available at all times.
In relation to the situations referred to by Ms Lynch, the spokeswoman said one child had secured a school place and the board was assisting with an appeal regarding a school's refusal to enrol. "Deputy Lynch has emailed the [ senior officer] involved to thank her for her involvement with both cases."