Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have heard all those arguments before. We heard them in the cases of school secretaries and caretakers. Recently the Government finally agreed to sit down for talks to regularise the pay, conditions of employment and pension provision of school secretaries and caretakers, which is a welcome development. I look forward to an outcome that they have waited on for a long time.

These people are critical components of the educational system and they deserve to have this rightly reflected in work and pay conditions. The position for long-term service cleaners in schools is very similar. They are long-term employees of the public system and they do not currently have access to a public service pension. We have many cleaners in schools who have been there for decades. There is an unfairness within the system because they are not entitled to pension rights in the way other workers are. I ask the Minister to look at this position to see if it can reviewed.

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