Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Tánaiste when he says that these issues get resolved through talking but it is clear that there is frustration among the unions. They will argue that the departmental cost was submitted to the committee of the Department of Education and Skills in May of this year and the talks that took place this week were not about the substance of the claim but went around the houses on the costs. There is frustration among the secretaries themselves and 94% of them voted in favour of industrial action and the strike.

The Tánaiste mentioned that he values the work of these school secretaries and I do not doubt his bona fides. I do not know the school secretary in the school the Tánaiste drops his kids to. Some 10% of school secretaries start on a salary of €24,000 and go up to €40,000 but the school secretaries in the school I drop my kids to could be earning as little as €13,000 per year with no payment at all over Christmas and Hallowe'en, among other conditions that do not exist for other public service employees. That inequality is the core of this issue. School secretaries do so much and go beyond the call of duty to keep schools together despite the different additional burdens placed on them.

How can we ask them, if we truly value them, to continue to do that job while their colleagues in other schools are earning twice, if not three times, as much as them? Does the Tánaiste believe that the issue of pay must be dealt with? Does he believe that school secretaries should be recognised for the public service they provide as public servants?

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