John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I was about to say earlier, officials from the Department met Fórsa representatives last week. Representatives of management bodies representing the employers, schools impacted on by the action, were also in attendance at the meeting, the purpose of which was to explore further the details of the pay claim as presented by Fórsa and the nature of the industrial action. The Department restated to the trade union that the claim would be fully considered once the current costings had been determined. It is standard practice for the Department to establish the full cost of a trade union's claim, including hours worked and the current rates of pay. A survey of school secretaries closed on 20 September and departmental officials are analysing the findings. They received 2,000 responses to the survey. The Department is fully committed to acting on the findings. Contrary to what might be said, it remains fully open to further dialogue with Fórsa on completion of the survey work. The Minister and I have met secretaries and do have some compassion, although perhaps that is not the word to use. I believe they work hard and should be paid for their hard work. My view which I think the Minister shares, but he will have to say so is that secretaries should not be laid off for a period. They should be in employment from the time the school opens until it closes. Further discussions with Fórsa would probably be productive.

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