Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 March 2011
50 Deputy Olivia Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance if he will reconsider the directive requiring a 5% cut in pay for low paid school-based non-teaching staff considering in most cases, and certainly in private schools, the pay levels for caretakers, secretaries and so on have no implications for the public purse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5488/11]
View answerThe Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009 provides for the reduction in the pay rates of all persons employed by public service bodies with effect from 1 January 2010. Such reductions apply irrespective of whether a particular post is funded in whole or in part through non-Exchequer funds or income. The non-teaching staffs referred to in the question are, whether employed in public or private schools, deemed to be public servants within the meaning of and for the purposes of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009. This position has been confirmed by legal advice.
The former Minister for Finance approved a temporary exemption under Section 6 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act for certain categories of workers in the education sector (including certain caretakers and secretaries) until 31 December 2010. Accordingly, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest(No. 2) Act has been applied to those specific categories of workers in the education sector since 1 January 2011 only.
It is important to understand that while there is a variety of staff across the education sector who are employed by public service bodies but who are either wholly or partly funded from non-Exchequer sources, there are also staff undertaking the same or very similar duties whose posts are fully Exchequer funded. All of these staff have now been subject to the terms of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009.
