School secretaries are paid from an ancillary grant, which is given to all schools by the Department of Education each year based on the number of pupils enrolled in the school the previous year. This grant is also supposed to cover the wage of all ancillary staff including caretakers, cleaning staff, etc. but, in general, it doesn’t cover even one of those costs unless a school pays less than minimum wage. For whatever reason, secondary schools receive a higher rate of ancillary grant than primary schools no matter what their size.
Effectively, school secretaries should simply be paid directly by the Department of Education in the same way teachers and SNAs are paid directly.
Weirdly enough, in certain schools this does happen. According to the figures on the FORZA union web site, some secretaries are paid a standard rate. Even in some primary schools, there are number of secretaries paid directly by the Department of Education under Grade III/IV clerical worker pay grades. This seems to amount to anything from €25,265pa to €44,771pa.
To be honest, it should be as simple as that.
