Minister for Education announces over 3,000 school secretaries now being paid by the State

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD has announced that 3,112 school secretaries are now being paid by the State, following a long and successful campaign.

The arrangement comes as part of a package of measures on terms and conditions now being implemented after a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to settle a claim for grant-funded school secretaries.

Work is currently underway to achieve similar for school caretakers, in recognition of the valuable contribution they make to their school communities.

School secretaries are employed directly by many of the 3,089 primary schools and 722 post-primary schools across the country.

There are currently 2,745 individual secretaries on payroll across Ireland, covering 2,984 school secretary positions. Some 203 secretaries have multiple employments.

Minister Foley said: “I am pleased that the Department is providing a payroll service for over 3,000 school secretaries across the country.

“I ensured that around 2,700 school secretaries nationwide were rightly put on the State payroll after a long campaign for recognition. I am continuing to work to achieve similar recognition for school caretakers.”

A survey issued in May to all recognised primary and post-primary schools regarding school caretakers, to gather information from schools employing grant-funded caretakers to facilitate further engagement with their representative union Forsa.

ENDS