Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For all the Tánaiste's talk of negotiations and effort, schools are closed today, with 250,000 children at home and 17,500 teachers on strike. The Tánaiste said a deal is on the table, but the reason the deal will not be accepted is because the ASTI does not trust the Government. In the Tánaiste's Department, the GRA and the AGSI do not trust the Government. The Government's attempt at creating trust is to issue a circular that has added further confusion to the chaos already in our education system. The Government needs to build trust with these unions to build a deal and a resolution to resolve the situation. The Joint Managerial Body, which controls most of the secondary schools in the country, states it may not be able to reopen them next Monday week. What guarantees can the Tánaiste give today that efforts will be made to get to a situation where schools will open on Monday week and not sleepwalk back to where we are today? How will the Government build the trust that is lacking? We support the Lansdowne Road agreement, but the actions of the Government undermine it at every turn and undermine the trust of public service unions. The Tánaiste must understand this.

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