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

We have made some progress. This time last year at their conferences, young teachers got together and demanded progress and the political system reacted. Fianna Fáil certainly used its position to make this progress happen with the INTO and the TUI and I congratulate their negotiators for the work they have done and which they continue to do in terms of putting pressure on the political system and forcing us to make sure their demands are heard. This was progress. There is nothing to say the Minister cannot say that as a political system and Government we need to acknowledge that pay equality is what we need to achieve. Nobody is expecting the Minister to write a cheque this year because we know there has already been an uplift in January and there will be another one next January. Nobody is expecting the Minister to write a cheque immediately, but he should give a signal that he is serious about this and that it can happen. The Minister gave this signal last summer when those negotiations started. We are at an early stage, but it is very important that in Dáil Éireann we continue to advocate on behalf of those newly qualified teachers and to state what has been going on with regard to their salaries is wrong, and that the Minister joins in this call, particularly at the Cabinet table.

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