Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Brien for raising this matter, thus enabling me to respond. He has raised an issue which has been brought to my Department’s attention by the TUI. I understand from my officials that work is under way on this and that a meeting under the auspices of the Teachers’ Conciliation Council is being convened to consider this matter. I do not wish to comment further on this matter given that those talks are to take place, except to say that whatever arrangements are arrived at, they are ones that would more appropriately be documented in an administrative or industrial relations context rather that something which we should seek to put into primary legislation.

There is a reference - it was relevant in relation to the headquarters of the new ETBs - to the 45 km rule. That is not a statutory requirement - it is what is written into the Croke Park agreement. It may very well be altered in any extension to it. The Deputy is right. There is a need to have a clear understanding about re-deployment or transfers which, give the physical scale of some of the bodies we are talking about, could have an onerous impact on the working conditions of staff, be they teachers or VEC/ETB staff members themselves. However, I do not think - the Deputy might agree with me - that it is appropriate to put it into primary legislation because in order to change it, if there was a change in the agreement, one would have to come back to this House to get it changed. It is properly part and parcel of the IR negotiated relationships between staff and management. The TUI and the Teachers' Conciliation Council are dealing with this on an ongoing basis. That is the place for it.