I am sure the Minister will agree with me that a commitment made by a senior politician should be delivered on. Almost 18 months ago, Leo Varadkar made a commitment that he would end the discrimination against school secretaries and caretakers in respect of their pay, pensions and conditions. Talks have again stalled in the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. I spoke to some of the secretaries and caretakers, who feel they are rag dolls being kicked around the place as if they have done something wrong. Will the Minister, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, ensure the Department of Education engages in a meaningful way in these talks to deliver on the commitment made by the Tánaiste to end the inequality visited on school secretaries and caretakers?

I thank Deputy Smith for raising what is a very important issue for so many school secretaries and caretakers throughout the country. As she knows, there is to be a further hearing of the WRC on Thursday of this week. There have been intensive discussions in the lead-up to that. There was a WRC hearing last September at which much progress was made on a public service pay scale, with the clerical officer grade 3 pay scale being applied across the board. At present, we have a patchwork quilt of a system in which some are directly employed by education and training boards, others by schools, others by boards of management, and so on. It is important we bring a resolution to this issue. I am aware of the key outstanding issues and have discussed them with the Minister for Education. I am hopeful progress will be made later this week at the WRC. The Government is very anxious to resolve this dispute. We absolutely respect and admire the work of our school secretaries and caretakers all over the country, and we are actively working on the issue.