Deputy Ferris gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the refusal of the Minister for Education to appoint secretarial assistance at St. Anne's school, Tipperary.
Adjournment Debate. - Tipperary School Secretarial Assistance.
Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise the subject of the secretarial assistance required by St. Anne's secondary school, Convent of Mercy, Tipperary. I made representations through the normal channels to the Minister on this subject following agreement by the school to allow the permanent secretary, Mrs. Feeney, to take a career break. The Minister's reply was as follows:
Dear Michael,
I wish to refer again to your recent representations on behalf of Sr. Patricia, St. Anne's School, Convent of Mercy, Tipperary regarding the payment of a temporary school secretary, Ms. Ann Fahey.
The position is that the running of secondary schools, including the provision of secretarial assistance, is a matter for local management, towards whose expenses the Department of Education makes a contribution, principally in the form of the Per Capita Grant.
The Department's contribution towards schools' operating costs was augmented in 1978 in the case of larger schools by the introduction of a scheme of grants for the employment of clerk-typists. However, the deterioration in the state of the public finances meant that a decision had to be taken in 1982 to phase out the scheme. This phasing-out is continuing, as the financial situation remains serious.
In these circumstances my Department cannot fund the salary of a replacement clerk-typist, whether a post has fallen vacant altogether or the permanent employee is on leave of absence.
I am sorry not to have better news for you.
With best wishes, Yours sincerely, Mary O'Rourke, T.D., Minister for Education.
Following that reply, I sought to raise the matter on the Adjournment. St. Anne's, the secondary school of the Convent of Mercy, has 444 students divided into three first year classes, two second year classes, three fourth year classes, three fifth year classes, two senior cycle classes and three sixth year classes. The school has 26 full-time teachers, lay and religious, and has the facility of employing three part-time teachers. The principal works 11 hours and the vice-principal works 15 hours.
When Mrs. Feeney, the permanent secretary, left on her career break the school management decided that a part-time secretary was essential to serve the school properly. As there would not have been a cost to the Department they were shocked to learn that the Minister and the Department refused to pay her replacement, Ann Fahey. The management board, from their own resources, have tried to keep going in the meantime but, unfortunately, they will be forced to discontinue her services unless the Department agree to pay their share. If Mrs. Feeney had not taken a career break her salary would have been paid unless, of course, agreement had been reached to phase out her services. However, no such agreement was reached. Does this mean that it is possible for Mrs. Feeney to subcontract her services to Miss Fahey? Perhaps the Minister will consider that aspect and confirm that it can be done. The Department and most sectors in the Civil Service allow people to take career breaks and, as good employers, the Convent of Mercy could not refuse the request from Mrs. Feeney.
This has now become a matter of principle in the Department and not one of additional expenditure by them. I hope the Minister will be positive in his response to a very serious problem which will affect the school, particularly at examinations, where it is essential to have secretarial assistance. Otherwise an unfair workload and additional responsibility will be laid on the shoulders of the principal, the vice-principal and other teachers in the school who would be required to give secretarial assistance to the children and their parents in addition to their normal teaching responsibilities.
As St. Anne's has an excellent record, this is a very unfair imposition by the Minister and the Department. It could affect the morale of the teachers and create a major worry for the parents. The Sisters and teachers of the school would like me to thank the Department of Education for their otherwise generous financial assistance in the form of the per capita grant. However, the unfair decision in connection with secretarial assistance is regrettable and I hope that the Minister will say whether it is possible for the school to allow the permanent secretary to be formally paid by the Department and she could, in turn, subcontract the services of the temporary secretary. That would overcome the problem and conform with the Department's guidelines. If the Minister agreed to that the school would appreciate the generosity of the Department which has always been forthcoming in all other areas of the per capita grant.
A scheme for the provision of clerical assistance in national and secondary schools was introduced on 1 April 1978. The objectives of the scheme were to make better provision for the administration and servicing of schools and to create additional employment opportunities. They were introduced as part of the job creation programme of the then Government and to provide limited State assistance in an area which had not previously benefited from any direct aid. At the peak of the scheme there were 585 clerk typists employed. Incremental scales of pay replaced the original flat rates of grant. These factors contributed to an escalation in costs. What was originally conceived as a modest contribution to job creation in the educational sector soon became a sizeable area of State expenditure.
It was in that context that a decision to phase out the clerk typists scheme by not filling vacancies was adopted in connection with the preparation of the Estimates for Public Services in 1983. That was confirmed in the Budgetary Statement of the Minister for Finance on 9 February, 1983. That decision was conveyed to the boards of management of national schools and the managers of secondary schools by circular letter in April 1983. The phasing out of these non-teaching posts in schools must not be viewed in isolation, but rather as part of the Government's overall strategy to contain public service numbers while, at the same time, maintaining essential services. The Government had hoped that vacancies which arose under the phasing out arrangements could be filled by recourse to the social employment scheme administered by FÁS. However, in practice, the union representatives on the social employment scheme monitoring committee objected to the use of the scheme in such cases. Therefore, the social employment scheme has been of less benefit to schools than we had hoped.
In the case of St. Anne's secondary school, Tipperary, sanction for the establishment of a clerk typist post was given by my Department with effect from 14 August 1978. The present employee took up duty in that school on 19 January 1981 until taking a career break on 1 May 1989.
A scheme of career breaks for clerk typists serving in schools was introduced by my Department with effect from 1 March 1987. The scheme was in line with the scheme of career breaks operated by the Civil Service generally and allowed for one or two breaks to be taken totalling a maximum period of five years. The scheme was introduced to allow clerk typists take a break from employment without resigning from their posts. At the end of the career break a clerk typist may return to her post or the career break may be extended as long as the total does not exceed five years. Because of the embargo on the replacement of staff who resign the career breaks scheme could be introduced only on the basis that clerk typists taking such leave of absence would not be replaced.
In the light of the circumstances I have outlined, I regret it is not possible for me to sanction a replacement clerk typist for St. Anne's secondary school, Tipperary, while the person employed is on a career break.
I should say that the problems created by the employment embargo in the Civil Service affect schools throughout the country. I sympathise with the case made by Deputy Ferris. There are many similar cases around the country, not least in my constituency. Unfortunately, because of the discipline imposed on us by the public service embargo, we simply do not have any room to manoeuvre in this case. Therefore, it is not possible to accede to the Deputy's request for a sub-contracting of the post not provided for under the embargo scheme. Consequently, it is with regret that I must inform the Deputy that it is not possible to accede to his request.
The Dáil adjourned at 11 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 30 November 1989.