Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister knows well, having spoken on the issue on several occasions while in office and previously, secretaries employed directly by the Department of Education and Skills can earn double or even triple the wages of those employed directly by schools, as well as enjoying far better terms and conditions. Indeed, the Minister previously gave full commitments to a very good campaign on this issue in County Donegal. Secretaries employed by the Department are permanent staff, often with a pension, whereas those employed privately by schools have significantly less tenure in office. It is manifestly unfair for people with the same qualifications who do the same job to the same standard to have vastly differing wage scales and employment conditions. The Minister is aware of this issue having discussed it on many occasions. A campaign was launched and the Minister gave the all-clear for the matter to go to the WRC, as he was required to do. There was significant pressure from the House in that regard. However, the talks have broken down because he went to the WRC and offered an increase of 1.5%. The issue is about terms and conditions rather than money. The failure of the talks is the responsibility of the Minister as he is the one who decided to go in with an offer of 1.5%. He needs to set out a proper pathway to avoid strike action.

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