Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Canney for raising this issue. I know it is close to his heart and I remember us speaking about it months ago when we were in government together. The Government really values the essential work done by school secretaries and caretakers. Often, the school secretary is the first person one meets on the way into a school and the caretaker is the last person to leave in the evening. Schools would not operate without them and the role they play in our education system is as important as that of schoolteachers, SNAs and school principals. For that reason, it is the Government's objective to regularise their employment, terms and conditions, and pension rights. That can only be done going forward. It cannot be done retrospectively, for reasons that I will explain. Of course, it has to be done by agreement and engagement and I sincerely hope that engagement will take place.

I am advised that officials from the Departments of Education and Skills and Public Expenditure and Reform and school management bodies met with the trade union Fórsa on 1 October in the Workplace Relations Commission. An offer of a modest multiannual pay increase was made to Fórsa at that meeting but it was not acceptable to the union. The Department of Education and Skills, in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, is considering the union's request to refer the matter to the Labour Court for determination. A number of technical issues exist as neither the Departments nor the management bodies are the employers of the staff in question. In these circumstances, Fórsa's statement that it is considering strike action is regrettable, and as we know, any such action would have a day-to-day impact on the operation of schools at this critical time and would disrupt tuition for students who have only recently returned to school after a six-month gap.

The Government is keenly aware of the role played by these vital staff and significant improvements to the pay of secretaries and caretakers have been made since 2015, under a pay arbitration scheme. This provided for a pay increase of 10% between 2016 and 2019 for staff, with a minimum rate of €13 per hour phased in over that period. The average hourly rate for a school secretary is now €15.49, which is in line with the hourly rate for a grade 3 clerical officer, taking into account that a clerical officer works through the summer.

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