Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

I welcome that. I agree with the Minister that they are well needed and well placed. They help people get their foot on the ladder. They are in communities. There is a real issue with the lack of transparency, which the Minister has pointed out as well. The pay and conditions for staff in both LTIs and community training centres, CTCs, are determined through a central process involving negotiations with unions and the Government rather than being set by each individual initiative. Surely there should be a mechanism in place to offer anatomy to LTIs in terms of overall responsibility. The pay disparity is an inequality that can no longer be justified. Instructors working at CTCs have increments from the start while LTI co-ordinators have a set scale salary with no increments. This cannot continue. I am the glad the Minister is going to work on that.

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