Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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235. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is planning to issue a directive on implementing pay deductions for members of teachers' unions that rejected working additional hours under the Croke Park agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34771/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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ASTI's withdrawal from the Croke Park hours means that the union has repudiated the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

Circular Letter 0045/2016 sets out the implications for ASTI members in opting to withdraw from the LRA.  As detailed in the circular, ASTI members have opted to forego a series of benefits and protections including:

- Avoiding an increment freeze

- Inclusion of the S&S allowance of €1,592 into the pay scale

- Continued alleviation of the FEMPI Act pay reductions

- Application of the recent agreement with TUI and INTO on new entrant pay

- The Ward Report measures and a revised sequence for filling posts which enable fixed-term and part-time teachers to gain permanent, full-time jobs more easily and quickly than before

- An increase in the quantum of the Croke Park hours that can be worked on other than a whole-school basis

- A review of the usage of the Croke Park hours

- Protection against compulsory redundancy

In addition to the above, as ASTI members as are not covered by the LRA, they do not benefit from the recent agreement which my Department reached with INTO and TUI under the LRA, which substantially addresses the current difference in pay between those recruited since 2011 and those recruited since 2012.