Up to 30 calls a day are going unanswered, payroll has been delayed, and recruitment for a bus escort is on hold due to Garda vetting processing delays.
Local schools are warning of growing safety risks as strikes by secretaries and caretakers continue.
At Scoil Bhríde in Kilcullen, Principal Dr. Sarah Fitzpatrick says there is now no one available to meet parents dropping off children’s medication - and no caretaker to ensure floors are safe, raising the risk of slips and falls.
She told Kfm the school is “barely functioning.”
Up to 30 calls a day are going unanswered, payroll has been delayed, and recruitment for a bus escort is on hold due to Garda vetting processing delays.
If the dispute continues, children may also be unable to travel by bus for swimming lessons.
Caretaking work has ground to a halt.
Joe, the school’s caretaker now on strike, had been responsible for the maintenance of 70 toilets, which amounts to more than 1,750 checks every week to ensure they are functioning adequately.
Those duties are no longer being carried out.
He was also responsible, among many other things, for ensuring floors were not slippy as children entered the school on rainy mornings.
Dr. Fitzpatrick says staff are doing their best but the emotional toll is evident.
She has raised concerns about how a school of 700 people can operate effectively without the essential contributions of office staff and without anyone overseeing the management of the building and grounds.
“We were so well ahead this summer, ready to rock and roll into the new school year. And yet today, paths are not cleared, grass is not cut - we are falling behind in very significant ways for children and staff.”
She called for secretaries and caretakers to be given “what they should have had from day one.”
Union Fórsa says it would welcome a Labour Court intervention in the dispute if the Government agrees to abide by its findings.
Pickets return to school gates today across the county, after demonstrations yesterday at Leinster House and TDs’ constituency offices nationwide.
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