Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

With respect, the Minister's waffle is not an answer to my question about equal pay for equal work. Under the new proposals, a person who started teaching after 2011 will earn €6,000 less in his or her first year of teaching than somebody doing the same job who happened to come in before 2011. That figure will be €5,800 in the second and third years of teaching and €6,000 in the fourth year. This pattern will continue until the ninth year, when the pay gap will be €8,500. Service officers and ushers in the Oireachtas are affected by this. Those who came in after 2012 get 10% less than those who came in previously. People who are working in this building are being paid €2,500 less for doing exactly the same job. Does the Minister think that is acceptable? I do not. Will he commit to equal pay for equal work? Does the Minister agree it is ironic that the actions of teachers and gardaí who took industrial action and refused to accept the Lansdowne Road agreement have forced him to give an extra €1,000 to those inside the agreement, but he will not give this payment to those who actually fought to achieve it? Essentially, he is putting the Sword of Damocles over their heads.

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