Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Bill before us seeks to increase the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission funding from €422.27 million to €462.505 million, an increase of more than €40 million, which is a vast amount of money. It is not exactly clear what the purpose of the increase is but we are told there is a plan to employ 111 additional staff over the next three-year period. All of this would happen while secretarial assistants continue to be denied a living wage. There is no doubt some money should have been set aside to address the matter of low pay in the case of secretarial assistants. There is a very strong case and amendments to be tabled about increasing funding further to provide for the additional funding required to address the question of the pay of secretarial assistants.

As others have said, the starting salary for secretarial assistants is €24,423.37, or the equivalent of €11.75 per hour. This is clearly well below the living wage of €12.90 per hour. In the programme for Government, in the general sense there was a commitment to progress to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government, and in January the Tánaiste asked the Low Pay Commission to examine this programme for Government commitment and make recommendations. Its report was expected in the second half of this year and I do not know if it is still coming. What is the status of that report? There is no doubt low-paid staff within the Oireachtas and across society are struggling to make ends meet. People on low pay and below the living wage are finding it particularly difficult. Many people in all kinds of circumstances are finding it difficult now because of the increased costs of living, but people below the living wage are really put to the pin of their collars. They are struggling very badly.

A survey carried out by the Houses of the Oireachtas human resources section during the previous Dáil indicates many secretarial assistants are doing similar work to parliamentary assistants. There is no doubt about that. We expect them to do all kinds of work and be experts across a wide of range of areas. We expect them to know about social welfare and healthcare entitlements. We expect them to know about housing and to be able to deal with a full spectrum of queries. They must work really hard to create that knowledge base and develop that expertise. The person in question must really be very bright and well-informed as well as being very empathetic. These are all characteristics that do not come easily. It is all very challenging. Nonetheless, secretarial assistants are paid significantly less than the parliamentary assistants. Much of the work of parliamentary assistants and secretarial assistants is very similar, especially in the case of the Seanad, but secretarial assistants are paid much less. Their salary is not much more than 50% of the parliamentary assistant salary, and that is not fair.

The survey indicates secretarial assistants were regularly carrying out higher level parliamentary assistant tasks. There is no doubt that is the case, certainly with the secretarial assistants allocated to Senators. In many ways it is the same for Deputies as it is not just the case the secretarial assistant just does what would be termed secretarial work. They must deal with a broad range of matters as well as researching, writing documents and dealing with the public face to face, which is one of the most challenging aspects of their work.

For example, according to the survey, 45% of Dáil secretarial assistants were writing newsletters and managing allowances, including Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, returns. That is an entire other area of compliance they complete on behalf of the Member in question. Again, it is challenging and they must get the figures right and be very clear about compliance requirements. It is very responsible work.

From these survey findings, it is clear the current secretarial assistant pay scale does not in any way accurately reflect the roles and responsibilities undertaken. Everybody should be entitled to equal pay for equal work but this is certainly not the case when it comes to political staff in the Seanad. One of the most glaring disparities in the Oireachtas is the difference between secretarial assistants in the Dáil and in the Seanad.

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