Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
229. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Education the mechanism that is in place for a school to employ additional secretary hours, given the recent increase in pupil numbers of a school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53249/23]
View answerMy Department is providing a payroll service for school secretaries with effect from 1st September 2023. The provision of a payroll service 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 also includes revised terms and conditions for secretaries.
Part of the work to on-board school secretaries to my Department’s payroll, involves 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. Work on the development of the allocation model is ongoing and further information will issue in due course.
However, I am aware that requests have been received from schools seeking replacements for secretaries who have recently retired or resigned from their posts. Information note ESR 0002/2023 was sent to all Principals/Boards of Management earlier this year, outlining the arrangements which apply to the recruitment of new school secretaries pending the finalisation of an allocation model.
Section 2.3 of this note states that where a new secretary is being contracted to replace a former secretary the actual working hours /working weeks which a newly recruited secretary should be contracted to undertake should mirror the working arrangements for the former secretary up to a maximum of 37 hours. In the small number of cases where an additional secretary is being recruited due to an existing secretary reducing their hours then the aggregate hours of the two secretaries must be no more than the previous working hours of the existing secretary.
Requests have also been received from schools seeking additional secretarial resources or who wish to employ a secretary for the first time. These requests are being considered on a case-by-case basis, pending the publication of an allocation model, taking into account the current secretary allocation (if any) in the school and pupil enrolments. Schools seeking to hire additional school secretaries or increase their current allocation of hours should contact my Department at secretaryreturns@education.gov.ie.
