Ms Nessa White:

On behalf of the ETBI and the 16 ETBs that we represents I am very pleased to make this statement on the status of non-teaching staff in schools. ETBs are statutory authorities with responsibility for education and training, youth work and a range of other statutory functions. ETBs manage and operate community national schools, second-level schools, further education colleges, and a range of adult and further education centres in communities throughout Ireland.

In the course of the recent economic downturn, schools and education centres suffered the imposition of significant cutbacks. The cuts affected all areas of service provision and school life in general. In the main, efforts were made to safeguard core services to the greatest extent possible and, as such, the impact of the cuts was experienced most acutely among the non-teaching staff cohort. In recent years, and as fiscal space has allowed, efforts have been made to restore many of the depleted services. The efforts have primarily targeted teaching and learning in the first instance, much of which was driven by the growth in enrolment, together with legislative and policy requirements aimed at meeting special educational needs. That has been broadly welcomed by all stakeholders, including ETBI, and we advocate the continued and increasing investment in teaching and learning. However, little has been done to address the disproportionate cuts imposed on ancillary services and, as a consequence, schools are significantly under-resourced in that regard.

Ancillary services play a crucial role in the life of the school and the school community. Adequate staffing levels in ancillary services are vital for the effective and efficient operation of the school and many key functions are reliant on their contribution. In the absence of the requisite staffing levels, many key duties are not being performed adequately or at all, at a significant cost to the school and community in general. The delivery of core school administrative tasks, ongoing maintenance and even basic standards of cleanliness and hygiene present challenges to schools, which are struggling to cope in the absence of the necessary allocation of staff.

While the ETBI welcomes the Minister's recent announcement on secretarial support in schools with more than 700 pupils, we call for the immediate restoration of ancillary staff to pre-recessionary levels; the standardisation of terms and conditions of ancillary staff across all schools; the lifting of the moratorium on the engagement of ancillary staff and that full effect be given to the provisions of delegated sanction to minimise the need for expensive contracts for services; the engagement of the Department of Education and Skills with all stakeholders to establish a staffing baseline for schools, regardless of size; and the determination of a reasonable basis for the increase in this baseline staffing level to take account of various factors, including growth in student numbers, increase in the size of school infrastructure, the age and general condition of the facilities. I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it today.