INTO, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, will not support any new national agreement until a caretaker and secretarial system for primary schools is in place, the union's general secretary has said.
Senator Joe O'Toole said a recent reform of community employment (CE) schemes had adversely affected primary schools, which have come to rely on the scheme for a partial caretaker and secretarial service.
Mr O'Toole said the central executive committee of his union had made it "abundantly clear to the Government and to the social partners" that it would not support or recommend any new pay deal until such services were made available to all primary schools.
The Government had failed to implement the commitment in successive national agreements to sanction the appointment of caretakers and secretaries, and CE scheme workers had filled the gap, he said. The workers provided much needed ancillary services and meant there were more adults on the grounds of each school "to meet and deal with any invited or uninvited visitors".
Their presence gave "an added comfort and sense of security to parents, teachers and boards of management", he said.
While using CE scheme participants as secretarial and care-taking staff was "not the most effective of solutions", INTO had decided to oppose any reduction in the school schemes "unless they are replaced by real social employment jobs supplying a similar service".
A spokesman for the Department of Education said funds were already provided to larger schools to assist in the appointment of caretakers and secretaries. Not all schools needed full-time staff in these positions, but the area was one into which the Minister was looking and had already had discussions with the INTO on the matter, he said.
