John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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453. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps that are being taken to ensure equal treatment of all school support staff, in particular school secretaries, regarding access to public service pension schemes and leave entitlements such as bereavement leave; and her plans to address discrepancies in pay, leave, and pension rights between contracted teachers, SNAs and secretaries. [44740/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Since September 2023, my Department is providing a payroll service for Secretaries. This provision is part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and also includes revised terms and conditions for secretaries. The Agreement however, which has provided for revised salary and annual leave entitlements, did not grant school secretaries with public servant status and therefore this cohort does not have access to the Single Public Service Pension Scheme, therefore there is no pension scheme in place for school secretaries employed under the new terms and conditions of employment as outlined in Circular 0036/2020.

The school remains the employer of school secretaries and it is their obligation to provide access to a PRSA scheme for employees. For secretaries who are paid through the Department-administered payroll, a facility is now being offered to join a PRSA scheme administered by Cornmarket with contributions being deducted at source. Should secretaries wish to avail of this option, they can contact Cornmarket directly – the participation of individuals in any scheme is a matter between the individual and the service provider.

As these staff are not public servants they do not automatically receive access to certain leave schemes. The Department engages with Fórsa and additional terms and conditions have been sought for this cohort of staff. However, any such claims, especially those with additional cost implications, must be carefully considered by the Department, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and in line with the existing industrial relations machinery.”