Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Like the previous speakers said, the elephant in the room is pay equality. I understand there may be some moves towards that and I welcome the Taoiseach's comments yesterday on possible new talks on the issue. It is something that needs to be tackled with the utmost urgency. Are the Taoiseach's comments an indication that the Government is finally willing to commit to the principle of equal pay for equal work? We know it cannot be done overnight. The recent report shows that. However, would the Government be willing to indicate a timeline for the delivery of equal pay for equal work?

I have read today, like other Deputies, that, alarmingly, we do not have enough junior certificate home economics teachers to examine the practical element. It is going to delay it, which will cause stress for the students involved. Will the Minister outline the measures he is taking to address that issue or how will that effect the budget Estimates here? On career guidance counsellors, I do welcome the additional 100 posts. That will bring us to 500 of the 600 posts cut having been restored. However, that is based on the number of career guidance posts needed in 2011. The Minister in his opening statement referred to an expanding young population, so surely we should not be working towards a number for career guidance counsellors that was needed in 2011. It is 2018 now. We should be looking at delivering one guidance counsellor per 500 students at this stage. We are not going to achieve that if our marker is the 2011 number. What is the Minister's intention to deal with that?

On the superannuation subhead, A8, and indeed in C10, in each of the past two years we have had to vote through a considerable Supplementary Estimate at the end of the year in respect of superannuation payments for teachers. I see this subhead is down 5% and 7% for the equivalent at third level this year. Does the Minister anticipate that we will be looking at a similar increased Supplementary Estimate come the end of 2018?