Mr. David Hearne:

From the financial side of things with caretakers, the day-to-day necessities are covered, but we cannot afford the little extras that we might enjoy on the weekend. It is as simple as that. I am paying a mortgage. I am lucky enough that my wife is teacher. She works in the same school. She does around a 30-hour week, but still comes out with over €250 extra than me. She does amazing work. All teachers do. I am not taking that from them. They work they do in school is amazing, but yet we work 40-hour weeks and at the end of it what do we have to show for it? The mental distress it is putting on caretakers and secretaries is phenomenal. We set up a Telegram group over the past six months. The caretakers who come on are seriously distressed. They do not know where they will go for the next loaf of bread. In the wintertime, how are they going to turn on the light or the heating? We want to get rid of that anxiety. We want equality in the workplace, with everyone on the same flow. We want to be looked after. Caretakers look after the school community, but the Department does not want to take care of us.