Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach and thank the witnesses for their attendance. They are pushing an open door when I am sitting in from of them, I assure them of that. That comes from my experience and my involvement through Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board. I sat on a number of interviewing committees where the job descriptions for school secretaries and caretakers got more complex every day, especially with respect to the demands on them. They interface with parents, teaching staff and of course the general public. As somebody mentioned earlier they are the eyes and ears of the school and are required to understand everything with regard to child protection and how the whole school evolves in terms of the ever-changing climate.

I cannot for the life of me understand how we have arrived at a place where secretaries and caretakers feel it is necessary to protest and picket. That they have to resort to doing that to get this anomaly addressed indicates there has been a failing. My question is whether Fórsa has been invited back to the WRC, formally or otherwise, since the last ballot. Maybe it has and maybe it has not. If it has not, there is something fundamentally wrong.