Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Will the Minister accept that the approximately 20,000 new members of boards of management, particularly in the primary sector, who have come on board to look after the school in which their children or grandchildren may be students, and in trying to facilitate the best possible support for the principal and staff in the school, are now confronted with a position where the Minister is giving them a miserable amount of money? This forces them into breaking labour law and proper working conditions in order for them to get basic things.

For example, the secretary of a school does not just do paperwork in a back office, he or she is also the permanent receptionist in the school. All primary schools also have a security issue regarding who goes in and out the door. The Minister is forcing boards of management to break the law or else deprive the principal of having support for a secretary. Does the Minister find her response is utterly inadequate, given the vast resources this Administration has at its disposal?

See this speech in context