Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to review the recent reduction in pay for school secretaries. [6709/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009 provides for the reduction in the pay rates of all persons employed by public service bodies with effect from 1 January 2010. Such reductions apply irrespective of whether a particular post is funded in whole or in part through non-Exchequer funds or income. The school secretaries (and other non-teaching staff) referred to in the question are, whether employed in recognised public or private schools, deemed to be public servants within the meaning of and for the purposes of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009. This position has been confirmed by legal advice.

The former Minister for Finance approved a temporary exemption under Section 6 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act for certain categories of workers in the education sector (including certain school secretaries) until 31 December 2010. Accordingly, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act has been applied to those specific categories of workers in the education sector since 1 January 2011 only.

It is important to understand that while there is a variety of staff across the education sector who are employed by public service bodies but who are either wholly or partly funded from non-Exchequer sources, there are also staff undertaking the same or very similar duties whose posts are fully Exchequer funded. All of these staff have now been subject to the terms of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act.