Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am raising the very important issue of the position of school secretaries. Last Friday, we had the unprecedented situation of school secretaries going on strike. They had a one-hour strike that morning and went on a work to rule. They do a very important job and are the first port of call for parents. They do the administrative work for the schools. They are central to the efficient running of schools. There is a two-tier system. The minority, who are employed directly by the Department and education and training boards have Civil Service rates and conditions, while the majority are employed directly by boards of management. There are hundreds throughout the midlands, including counties Laois and Offaly.

I met some of them at the protest on Friday morning and heard them outline the very precarious situation they were in. They are on lower pay than anyone else; some of them are earning just above the minimum wage. They have to sign on during the school holidays. They are officially unemployed for 14 or 15 weeks of the year. They clock up no pension entitlements from employment. They have no real job security and many of them are on short-term contracts. They have asked me to tell the Minister of State that they believe they are being taken for granted. Without them schools would not work. Obviously, a few hundred are employed by the Department. They start on a salary of €24,000, against which I am not arguing. It is the basic starting rate for a clerical officer and low enough in itself. However, the people concerned are not earning within an ass's roar of it. Some are earning as little as €12,000. Fórsa officials have told me that there have been no meaningful negotiations on the part of the Department and no serious engagement. It is a long-standing injustice. I know that the Minister of State will support their becoming unionised because they have been picked off one by one and we need to deal with the issue.

See this speech in context