Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Caretakers are valued and vital members of the school system. The majority of primary and post-primary schools receive assistance to provide for caretaker services under grant schemes. Where a school employs a caretaker under these grant schemes to support those functions, those staff members are employees of the individual schools and as such the responsibility for the terms and conditions of employment rests with the school. Therefore, at present, the issue of pay during periods of school closure is a matter for the Board of Management/ School as their direct employer.

A new agreement for revised salary and annual leave entitlements for grant funded school secretaries has recently been implemented with school secretaries who have opted to accept the terms and conditions receiving payment via a centralised payroll administered by my Department for the first time on 14 September 2023.

The Department is committed to ensuring that school caretakers will be afforded the opportunity to also avail of a similar deal in the near future. At present there remains a deficit of data on the working patterns as well as the terms and conditions of work for caretakers. A significant project was required to gather comprehensive data in respect of school secretaries in order to implement payroll arrangements: work is ongoing to resolve complex individual cases and once this is completed, a separate, similar process in respect of caretakers with commence. We anticipate that this data gathering for caretakers will be progressed as soon as practicable.