Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

We need to be very honest here. One of the reasons we find ourselves in this position is that while the most recent national wage agreement included a 3.5% increase, only 2% of the funding was provided by the Government. The other 1.5% must be absorbed from the existing budget.

I ask the Minister of State to urgently rethink this decision and to engage with the ETB in Tipperary. I spoke to some of those students who have enrolled for September. These are vulnerable students who are devastated by this decision. I appeal to the Minister of State to intervene.

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