Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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532. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the timeline for the introduction of the new model of allocation for school secretary hours, in light of increasing administrative workloads in schools due to compliance, financial management, digital systems, and additional responsibilities, such as ASD classes. [48501/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The position is that work is currently underway on developing and publishing an allocation model for school secretaries. This is a complex task and requires factoring in a number of elements - such as school status, class type, enrolment numbers, and existing secretary arrangements - to ensure that the final model is fair to all schools whilst also meeting their practical needs.

Up to the publication of the allocation model, requests for increases in the secretary allocation are being considered on a case-by-case basis. Schools seeking an increase should email secretaryreturns@education.gov.ie

All requests that have been received and dealt with in this interim period will be reviewed again when the allocation model is published.

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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533. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reconsider the decision to refuse additional administrative hours for the school secretary at a school (details supplied), given the school’s growing operational demands. [48502/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The provision of a payroll service for school secretaries by my Department 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 which also includes revised terms and conditions for secretaries. Traditionally, school secretaries were paid directly by the schools and my Department provided grant aid towards the provision of secretarial/administrative services in the schools.

Those secretaries who opted into the new arrangements received their first salary payment through my Department’s Non-Teaching Staff (NTS) Payroll on 14th September 2023. There are currently 2,659 individual secretaries being paid through the NTS Payroll with newly appointed secretaries joining as vacancies arise in schools. In line with the provisions contained in Circular 0036/2022, which was issued by my Department in June 2022, new secretary appointments after 1st September 2023 will automatically be subject to the new arrangements and will be paid through my Department’s payroll.

Work is currently ongoing in relation to the development of a formal model for the allocation of secretary posts other than Department-sanctioned secretaries in Community and Comprehensive schools and those employed under the 1978/1979 scheme. However, there are currently requests for additional/new secretarial resources from a number of schools and these are being dealt with on a case-by-case basis. My Department will be in direct contact with these schools over the coming days.