My Department operates a scheme, introduced in 1978, for the employment of school secretaries under which it meets the full cost of salary and employer's PRSI. While the salary is funded by my Department, it is the board of management of each individual school which is the actual employing authority. This scheme was superseded in the PESP agreement of 1992 by a more extensive grant scheme.
On 1 April 2000 there were still 216 secretaries employed under this earlier scheme. Of these 216 secretaries, 74 are employed on a sharing basis between two or more schools. Accordingly, there are 142 primary schools which have the services of a full-time secretary. The posts were allocated to these schools on the basis of a teaching staff of 18 or more in respect of a full time post or shared between schools with a minimum of 23 teachers.
The pay scales of the secretaries employed under this scheme are linked to comparable positions in local authorities and are set out in the table below. The rates listed are effective from 1 April, 2000.