*Pamela McCarthy (fifth from right) with her teaching colleagues on the picket line at Scoil Chríost Rí, Cloughleigh.
SCHOOL SECRETARIES and caretakers are not looking for freebies and want to return to the job they love but are pleading for the Government to support them, an Ennis woman has said.
Strike action continues in Clare and across the country with school secretaries pursuing public service pensions and entitlements enjoyed by their fellow school workers such as SNAs and teachers. School secretaries joined the centralised public payroll in 2023 and received pay improvements, but they are still excluded from the Single Public Service Pension Scheme which teachers and SNAs receive.
On Tuesday morning, secretary of Scoil Chríost Rí, Cloughleigh in Ennis, Pamela McCarthy and caretaker Keith Tynan were joined by teachers, SNAs and their principal on the picket line.
Pamela has been a central figure in the school for over two decades, working as the school secretary for fourteen years and prior to this she spent eight years as an SNA in Cloughleigh.
Over 2,600 Fórsa members are calling for the Department of Education to classify them as public servants. “I think we’re entitled to a pension, we do the same work that a lot of civil servants do, I think we’re entitled to our pension,” Pamela said.
Public backing has been strong for their actions thus far, she noted. “We’ve had an amazing response, first of all from my colleagues here in Scoil Chríost Rí, they have been amazing and great support from day one, my principal, the teachers, SNAs and then from the wider public in general has been amazing, everyone is behind us, we haven’t met one person that is against us yet”.
Ennis woman Pamela is hopeful a resolution will be reached. “I’d hope the Government wake up and listen to us, we’re not looking for billions of euro, we’re not looking for anything free, we’re willing to pay into our pensions, it is to have parity with our colleagues”.
She told The Clare Echo “we’re here for the long-run” but remained hopeful their calls would be listened to.
Secretaries do not have the same summer holidays as their colleagues as preparatory work for the academic year has to be completed. “We do work longer weeks in the summer, we don’t finish at the end of June, we finish in mid-July and we’re back in mid-August”.
Engaging in industrial action and not carrying out their duties has been difficult, Pamela admitted. “I haven’t set foot in the school since last Thursday, there is no admin being done in the school at all. I want to be in school and with my colleagues, I want to be in doing the job I love, I want to be with the kids and helping to be part of their education”.
Political engagement so far has been “not bad,” she felt. “Overall it has been very positive but we need them to put pressure on the Government to bring about a resolution to this”.
“We’d really hope it would be resolved very quickly, it is not where we want to be, it is not our nature to be out here striking but we have strong resolve to get what we’re looking for and what we feel we’re entitled to,” Pamela concluded.
