Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to put on record my appreciation and gratitude to the secretaries and caretakers in our schools, who do a wonderful job and in many cases are the heartbeat of their schools. In the school where I served as a teacher, Noreen, the secretary, had three different principals and provided continuity from one to the other, as well as between teachers and principals and between students and parents. She is not alone in that. Through my role as public representative, I have had occasion to visit many schools to see the incredible co-ordination work a secretary has to do. They are often the longest-serving member of staff and are often the most trusted and indispensable member. However, under the current model of employment they are the most neglected and this is not good enough.

The Minister said he wanted to support school secretaries and he makes the right noises about addressing the issue constructively. However, we have not seen any action to date. This is a matter of huge concern as 90% of our school secretaries are not recognised for the vital work they do. They are not in a pension scheme, are not paid for summer holidays and do not know from one year to the next how they stand. Given the challenges schools have, we need to be able to support the heartbeat of the school, that is, the secretary and the caretaker. They need to be treated with the same respect as are the 10% employed by the Department of Education and Skills.

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