Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here today. I could echo a lot of what Senator Curley has said but I am conscious of not doing that to try to make the most of our time. I have interacted with a lot of schools, particularly in recent months, that have seen growing pupil numbers. The secretaries and caretakers have been there for years but the demands of the job have grown, particularly in the case of secretaries, with pupil numbers increasing rapidly in some of the secondary schools I can think of. The additional secretarial support has not been found and it has put an enormous amount of pressure on the usually one secretary in the school. Some I can think of have been there for many years but the demands of their roles have increased dramatically due to the number of pupils within the school. The same is true of the role of caretaker and what they are expected to do with an expanding and physically growing school.

I get the points Mr. Pike made, so I am trying not to question him on those. That was incredibly clear, and has been made incredibly clear to us over a long period. However, in those specific circumstances, is this current situation resulting in those schools not being able to get the additional secretarial or caretaker workers they need to help them in their positions?