Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smith for raising what is a very important issue for so many school secretaries and caretakers throughout the country. As she knows, there is to be a further hearing of the WRC on Thursday of this week. There have been intensive discussions in the lead-up to that. There was a WRC hearing last September at which much progress was made on a public service pay scale, with the clerical officer grade 3 pay scale being applied across the board. At present, we have a patchwork quilt of a system in which some are directly employed by education and training boards, others by schools, others by boards of management, and so on. It is important we bring a resolution to this issue. I am aware of the key outstanding issues and have discussed them with the Minister for Education. I am hopeful progress will be made later this week at the WRC. The Government is very anxious to resolve this dispute. We absolutely respect and admire the work of our school secretaries and caretakers all over the country, and we are actively working on the issue.

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