Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was listening to the contributions in my office while I was working. I acknowledge the presence of the Minister and thank him for being here.

I could not let this go without making a contribution on the role of secretarial assistants. I have been a Senator for a year and a half, like many others, and have seen at first hand the quality of staff in this Chamber and staff who work for people in this Chamber. Like everyone has said, the work secretarial assistants do is the exact same as that of parliamentary assistants. They are in the same offices and doing the same work. It is not so much that it needs to be respected but that it needs to be acknowledged that the work they do is no different from that of a parliamentary assistant. Secretarial assistants may be getting married or trying to get a mortgage. They face the same challenges as everybody else, but the salary is pitiful. It is extremely low. To reach a level that somehow reflects the work they do takes a hell of a long time. I believe it takes something like 18 years or more to get to the very top. That is an extremely long period. Lisa, who works for me, goes above and beyond the duty expected of her.

In fairness to the Minister, he was here last week and acknowledged, in responding to a Commencement matter, that he will look into this. Proposals need to be put to him. He said he will examine these and make a decision based on them, but this is not a case of 1% here and 2% there. The figures today indicate that the rate of inflation has risen by 5%. For someone on the salary of a secretarial assistant, that is crazy. Something needs to be done. Secretarial assistants go above and beyond the call of duty. The Minister knows from politics that things happen outside the period from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. More often than not, the secretarial assistants are always prepared to put everything down to support us. I would appreciate it if the work of all secretarial assistants associated with Members on all sides of the House was quickly accepted and if they were given a salary that reflected the work they do.