Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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543. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to provide school caretakers with access to the single public service pension scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17462/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Caretakers are valued members of our school communities who carry out work vital to the operation of our schools. At present, most primary and post-primary schools receive assistance to provide for caretaker services under ancillary grant funding.

As part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries and caretakers, the implementation of revised salary and annual leave entitlements for school secretaries is now fully operational, and lessons learned from that process are now playing a key role in the drafting and implementation of a similar deal to be offered to grant funded school caretakers. The agreement however did not grant public servant status to school secretaries and therefore this cohort do not have access to the Single Public Service Pension Scheme.

The Department is committed to ensuring that school caretakers will be afforded the opportunity to avail of a similar package to that which was accepted by school secretaries in the near future. As the deal to be offered to caretakers, when agreed, will be similar to that implemented for school secretaries, it is not currently anticipated that the granting of public servant status, and the entitlements which arise therefrom, will form part of the proposal.

In the normal course, there are ongoing discussions with the public service unions on any and all matters relating to pay agreements. Any review of changes to the employment of school caretakers or other pay mechanisms, can occur only under those processes and any such proposals would need to be considered in detail by the Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and the relevant unions.