Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister set out clearly his view on the equalisation of teacher pay scales and whether he supports the principle of equal pay scales for teachers? He should indicate whether he will make such a statement at the teacher conferences next week. There has been enough talk about this issue. The parties in the Dáil, except for Fine Gael, are united on this. What the unions or, more importantly, their members will be seeking is a commitment that this Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform want this and that it will happen. Moreover, they will want to know when it will happen. That needs to be set out clearly in the Dáil and at the teacher conferences next week.

The Minister mentioned the inclusion of a provision in the schools admissions Bill for which Fianna Fáil has pushed. We indicated that we would not support that Bill unless that specific issue was addressed. The Minister has graciously agreed to include a power in that Bill, namely, to give the National Council for Special Education the power to mandate schools to open special classes. That power will be included in the schools admission Bill. In this Estimates document, that Bill is listed as a 2016 output outturn. It is now 2018 and we still have not come anywhere close to finishing that legislation. That reason for that is that the Minister has not come back with his amendments from the Department. He has not set out his final position on that Bill. There are many important issues with that Bill but a crucial one for us is the one the Minister mentioned. The Bill is listed in this document as a job that was done in 2016, but it has not been done.

It is nowhere near done. It is not the fault of the Oireachtas. We have done our job but are waiting for the Minister to come forward with his final amendments. Perhaps he could outline the current position with regard to the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016. What is the delay?