Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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476. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if full-time staff refers to both SNAs and teachers in relation to the criteria for pay grades for school secretaries paid by her Department; if not, the reason; the steps she is taking to address same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11339/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The process referred to by the Deputy is outlined in a letter to school management bodies on 12 August 1998. The issue was part of the agreement on the pay and conditions  of school secretaries, considered under Clause 2 (iii) of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, and subsequent revisions of this agreement have been agreed through standard union engagement, most recently in 2020.  Additional amendments to this agreement can only be achieved through engagement and collective bargaining agreements between the Government and the public service unions.

For clarity, the rationale of linking grading to the calculation of the number of WTE teaching staff that a school is entitled to reflects the fact that this calculation relates strongly to the number of students enrolled in a school and other supports as outlined in the agreement. It is not the actual number of staff in the school which underpins the grading.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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477. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason school secretaries who are paid by her Department do not get time off in the same way as most other school staff during mid-term break unless they use annual leave days; the steps she is taking to address the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11340/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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School secretaries are valued members of our school communities and my Department is fully aware of the vitally important role played by them in the running of our schools. 

The majority of primary and voluntary secondary schools receive assistance to provide for these staff under grant schemes. Where a school employs a staff member to support those functions those staff are employees of individual schools and responsibility for terms of employment rests with the school.

The Department with school management bodies have been engaging with Fórsa on a claim on terms and conditions for grant-funded school secretaries and caretakers.  On the 27th of October 2020, under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), an understanding was agreed on a pathway to progress the issues. Several key strands were identified, and a phased approach was being taken to the development of proposals.

On the 24th February, following a series of engagements at the WRC, a package to settle the claim was proposed which Fórsa have agreed to recommend to its members. A ballot will now be undertaken and we await the outcome.

The main elements of the package offered include, in recognition of the invaluable work carried out by school secretaries,  moving their pay rates to a scale which is aligned with the Clerical Officer Grade III pay scale on a pro rata basis according to a secretary’s current working pattern. This process will provide for pay increases (backdated to 1 September 2021) to school secretaries who choose to move to the new terms. It also provides for lower-paid but longer serving secretaries to be placed higher up the salary scale.

Secretaries may also choose to receive additional pay to ensure they no longer need to apply to the Department of Social Protection for payment of benefits for periods when they are not working due to school holidays. Proposals have also been made in relation to issues surrounding to annual leave, maternity benefit and sick pay.

I welcome Fórsa’s decision to ballot their members on this agreed suite of measures for school secretaries who are the beating heart of our school community. This important step forward is the result of great co-operation on the part of all concerned, and a generosity and willingness to come to the table to engage in discussion and find the pathway forward. This agreement is further acknowledgment of the excellent and often unheralded work carried out on the ground by secretaries in our schools.