Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have worked long enough in the sector to know that this had to be a priority for delivery. I was very pleased with the endorsement of the proposal in a ballot in which 95% of school secretaries voted in favour of the deal. However, I will be upfront and honest that there is a considerable body of work involved here. Each secretary is employed by the relevant school board of management. The work has commenced in conjunction with Fórsa. It is a complex process of assimilation of information in order that accurate data with regard to each individual secretary are captured. The additional resources that have been required have been put in place by the Department. The work also involves setting up an entirely new IT system to collect the data and that is ongoing. Circulars have issued to schools. Before the end of September, schools must calculate the initial assimilation rate of pay and annual leave entitlement for secretaries and offer those to them. My point is that there is a considerable body of work involved.

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