Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the unanimity among committee members regarding school secretaries. I have worked with school secretaries and caretakers. I know the enormous value that is added to a school by the work of the support staff. The issue with school secretaries has been ongoing for years. I am pleased to say that in the last year and a half we have made significant progress through the WRC. We have offered to move school secretaries to a scale aligned with clerical officer grade 3. There are other outstanding issues as mentioned earlier. However, I assure the Chairman of the commitment of the Department to resolve any of the outstanding issues and we will do that through the WRC.

The Chairman made a very relevant point on planning for future building. We have a very significant capital budget a €4.4 billion in place for 2021 to 2025. For this year alone, the building programme budget comes to €792 million. GIS is allowing us to do geographical studies looking at the population projections and future needs of an area. We engage with local authorities on the ground on future building projects and the demographics that may well arise in particular areas. There is also engagement on the ground with the patron bodies, which is very important. I am very conscious of the need for forward planning and I am also very conscious of the need to have a budget that will back up the demands that will be placed on the Department for that. A budget of €4.4 billion between now and 2025 is a significant budget to meet the challenges that lie ahead.