Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Page 10 of the programme for Government makes reference to affording every citizen equality of opportunity in a fair society. Today, as we know, is International Women's Day, but we have a huge gap in terms of pay between men and women. The gap is now 14%. It was 12% in 2012 so it is widening all of the time. This fact sends out a very clear negative message that the work women do is undervalued in society. We need to tackle this issue head on. We have inequality and we have the widening gap as I mentioned, but we also have pay inequality experienced by entrants into the teaching profession. Post-2011 entrants experience a loss over their career of between €53,000 and €105,000. This is a disgrace. As a woman, as a former teacher and as a former INTO representative, I ask the Tánaiste to address these inequalities. When will the report on teachers' pay and a plan towards equalisation be published? Will we have an opportunity to debate the report? I sincerely hope, in the interests of fairness, that we do.

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