I drop my kids to school when I can and am more than aware of the value of school secretaries as I am sure are Deputy Doherty and many others in the House.

Industrial action by school secretaries who are members of the Fórsa trade union will commence tomorrow. Fórsa's pay claim is a follow-on claim from the current pay agreement which runs until the end of this year. The Department's position is that the union's claim will be fully considered once the current costs have been determined. The Department is conducting a survey of schools which closes tomorrow. Bearing that in mind, any industrial action is surely premature and unwarranted, not least because the period of the current agreement has not even expired yet. The current pay agreement committed both parties to engaging with one another in the course of 2019 to consider the nature of an agreement to apply from 1 January next year.

The Department is not the employer of the staff concerned and does not hold current information on their pay rates and working hours. A previous survey was conducted ten years ago and the current pay agreement has been implemented in the meantime. The results illustrate that this matter presents significant issues for the Exchequer with a potential cost to the State of between €188 million and €347 million per year in funding to allow for the employer pension contributions in State-funded community and voluntary organisations.

On foot of a chairman's note to the Lansdowne Road agreement, the Department of Education and Skills engaged in an arbitration process with the union in 2015. This resulted in a cumulative pay increase of 10% between 2016 and 2019 for staff and a minimum hourly pay rate of €13. This arbitration agreement lasts until the end of this year and was designed to be of greatest benefit to lower paid staff. For example, a secretary or caretaker who was paid the then-minimum wage of €8.65 per hour in 2015, prior to the arbitration, is now paid €13 per hour which is an increase of 50%.

Having said all that, my experience is that these issues get resolved by talking. I encourage Fórsa to engage with the Department to try to find a way forward that avoids industrial action, including that scheduled for tomorrow, and the disruption that will cause to children, parents and the staff of schools.

I agree with the Tánaiste when he says that these issues get resolved through talking but it is clear that there is frustration among the unions. They will argue that the departmental cost was submitted to the committee of the Department of Education and Skills in May of this year and the talks that took place this week were not about the substance of the claim but went around the houses on the costs. There is frustration among the secretaries themselves and 94% of them voted in favour of industrial action and the strike.

The Tánaiste mentioned that he values the work of these school secretaries and I do not doubt his bona fides. I do not know the school secretary in the school the Tánaiste drops his kids to. Some 10% of school secretaries start on a salary of €24,000 and go up to €40,000 but the school secretaries in the school I drop my kids to could be earning as little as €13,000 per year with no payment at all over Christmas and Hallowe'en, among other conditions that do not exist for other public service employees. That inequality is the core of this issue. School secretaries do so much and go beyond the call of duty to keep schools together despite the different additional burdens placed on them.

How can we ask them, if we truly value them, to continue to do that job while their colleagues in other schools are earning twice, if not three times, as much as them? Does the Tánaiste believe that the issue of pay must be dealt with? Does he believe that school secretaries should be recognised for the public service they provide as public servants?

What I agree on is that this will be resolved by discussion and consideration which is part of the plan. There was is an ongoing consultation this year with a view to putting new arrangements in place for the start of next year. I am not directly involved but I understand that a school survey is needed as part of that process in order to ensure that all those involved, particularly the Department of Education and Skills, understand the numbers and the facts. That survey will conclude tomorrow. Surely it is premature to trigger industrial action before the survey is complete? I ask people to show some restraint and to give discussion a chance to produce a result that would be acceptable to both sides rather than resorting to industrial action tomorrow which will cause significant disruption in schools. The Deputy is correct. School secretaries are a hugely important part of the school infrastructure, staffing, the safe functioning of schools, looking after children and so on. Given the nature of what is happening and what is under way, I appeal to Fórsa to look again at tomorrow's industrial action and to continue the consultation with the Department.