Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept the importance of fully addressing this issue. I believe that building on the work that was completed in 2018, the new Building Momentum agreement provides for this incremental jump. It provides an additional increase of €1,700 per teacher. All those who are above point 12 also received an additional incremental jump to the next point on the pay scale. As I said, the skipping of point 12 on the salary scale for teachers is in addition to measures previously introduced in 2018, which provided for skipping points 4 and 8 on the relevant scales.

We are in a process whereby over the months ahead, we will be seeking to negotiate either an extension to the current agreement or a new agreement. It is always open to trade unions to raise any issues they regard as outstanding. We will then seek to address them through a process of negotiation. The current agreement, which is being implemented right now and being fully honoured by the Government, provides for resolving in full the remaining salary scale issues pertaining to new entrant teachers. That is what all parties have signed up to.

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