Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Last week I visited a number of primary schools in Tramore, Glór na Mara, Holy Cross, Gaelscoil Philib Barún, Educate Together and Fenor national school. Right now Fórsa estimates that 10% of the country's approximately 3,500 school secretaries are paid directly by the Department of Education and Skills, with their salaries varying from €24,000 to €44,711 per year. The other 90% are paid through their schools' ancillary grant leaving some of the salaries as low as €12,000 per year. This grant is decided by the Department of Education and Skills and is sent to the school each year. It then has to be paid out to the secretaries. The majority of schools are forced to employ their school secretaries through their ancillary grant.

This two-tier system means that in some schools there can be two secretaries doing exactly the same job in the same office, but one is paid €44,000 per year and the other €12,000 per year. In any other walk of life this discrimination would be illegal. Currently the majority of Ireland's school secretaries have to work for poor pay and without the most basic of employment rights such as sick pay or secure contracts, and they are mostly let go for the summer months and have to sign on for social welfare. I know school secretaries who have been signing on for the summer or Easter breaks for years. It is degrading to have to go to a social welfare office every July, and it is frustrating as the money they are entitled to can take up to six weeks to process.

Approximately 90% of all school secretaries have no pension rights. These are people we all know in our communities. This is a scandal. I am crying out to all parties in the House to please support the school secretaries. There is a Fórsa Support Our Secretaries campaign. In addition, will the Leader please ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, to come to the House to discuss this issue? This is absolute, sustained discrimination.