Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Due to this decision, more than 250,000 pupils and their parents could be inconvenienced on an ongoing basis. Although supervision and substitution were part of the agreement heretofore, the ASTI, for its own reasons, decided to withdraw from it. The agreement was to work 33 hours extra per year, or one hour per week. Most other public servants agreed to work 100 extra hours per year. If the ASTI wants to have the substitution and supervision money paid to its members, all it has to do is reverse the ban, which it decided on. The closure of the schools was not directed or caused by the Minister for Education and Skills. The boards of management are responsible for opening schools, and they cannot open them if there is not proper supervision for the children who attend. The ASTI could deal with the issue today. The question of the pay for new entrants has already been outlined.

I hope we can again have a situation where the ASTI would reflect on what the Teachers Union of Ireland and Irish National Teachers Organisation have done in sitting down, balloting their members and agreeing to receive the benefits they are now receiving. Those benefits are available to the ASTI in the same way. This is about the country moving forward as a country and not for any individual sectoral gain. Again, we cannot step outside the Lansdowne Road agreement.

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