Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to revert back to the issue of membership of the union. I have correspondence from the Secretary General on this issue and replies to a number of parliamentary questions but as I understand it, the Department at present is not in a position to afford the same benefits unless one is a member of a union. My question is not about interchanging unions, I have a lot of correspondence and detail on that; my issue is how the Department views a member of the teaching staff. My layperson's reading of this is it is compulsory to be a member of the union to accrue the full benefits. Our colleagues were speaking earlier of equal pay for equal work. I am interested to hear the Minister's views because I am concerned that the Department is not in a position to recognise people who, for whatever reason, are not members of a union. People do not have to be in a union and I do not believe we should be forcing anybody to be a member of a union if they choose not to. Not being a member of a union is an irrelevance but they should be entitled to the same benefits as those who are members of a union.