Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for being here and the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this issue. The industrial relations problems that seem to be bubbling up in the education sector are of significant concern to parents and students alike. There are threats and counter-threats and meetings and preconditions to meetings. I thought I would offer the Minister the opportunity to set out the Department's position on a range of issues to give some reassurance to those affected - the pupils, parents and teachers - that the Department is taking a lead role in this, that it is doing something about it and is not going to allow this situation to fester until September, with potentially serious consequences for the education system.

The Minister has threatened to take a range of measures if, for example, the ASTI repudiates the Lansdowne Road agreement and does not do what is required and yet page 305 of the briefing he received states that it is determined that ASTI and TUI members could not be excluded from the legislation and they will therefore benefit from any pay improvements which are brought about through legislation. There seems to be a bit of a difference in approach there. Is the Minister on solid legal ground in these threats? More importantly, what is he doing to try to resolve the situation so that these threats are not necessary and the education of our children and students does not suffer? What sanctions does he believe can be put in place?

Last week I raised the issue of junior certificate reform. That is another issue that needs to, and can, be sorted out if the will is shown by the Department, the Minister and, indeed, the unions - I will not exclude any side from this - to sort it out and to ensure the issue is addressed and put to bed so that we can get on with the main job which is required to be done.

Another issue relates to allowances. In the last days of the outgoing Government, allowances were restored for firefighters. Is it possible that this opens the way for post-2012 teachers who lost out on similar allowances to reach similar deals? The TUI seems to believe a precedent has been set. Is it correct? Is this something the Minister has given consideration to?

The Minister will also be aware that newly qualified teachers are now starting to organise themselves, and they are right to assert their anger and to highlight the inequality and the unfairness, which they are doing in increasing numbers. I have met some of them at their meetings and they are looking for equality. Perhaps the Minister could outline the steps he is taking in this regard. Fianna Fáil believes that future pay agreements should focus on equalising pay for new entrants and we are committed to restoring equality of treatment for teachers. However, what is the Minister doing on this matter? It is now beginning to cause considerable upset within schools because in many cases these teachers are settling in to their jobs, achieving permanency and now feel more secure to be able to speak out on the issue. A range of issues have landed on the Minister's desk. I will write to him privately to seek a meeting on other issues. We need to get a grip on this situation or there will be serious consequences for education and for our students.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Byrne for raising these issues and I assure him I would be more than happy to meet him on these or on any other issues he wishes to discuss. The purpose of the wider framework of public service agreements is to balance the rightful ambition of public servants to see improvements in their pay and conditions after a long number of years of pressure with the needs of the public to see improvements in the services. The Deputy has outlined the pressures as they applied to the teaching profession but the pressures apply right across the public service. We have seen very difficult times in many public services and there are pressing needs in many areas, not just in education but also in health and housing etc., as the Deputy is aware.

These agreements, in particular the most recent, the Lansdowne Road agreement, and its predecessor, the Haddington Road agreement, bring important benefits for public servants generally and teachers in particular, including increments, supervision and substitution payments, protection against compulsory redundancy and the alleviation of the FEMPI pay cut for higher earners. The agreement has been endorsed by the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The agreements also bring significant benefits for users of public services, which benefits in the education sector include the so-called Croke Park hours - the additional 33 hours that teachers work under the agreement - which help ensure parent-teacher meetings, staff meetings and other activities can proceed without schools being closed during the school day.

Just as being inside these agreements bring benefits, it is also important to point out that being outside these agreements brings risks for both public servants and for the wider public who use the services they provide. ASTI members voted at ballot last autumn not to accept the Lansdowne Road agreement. However, they have continued to abide by the Haddington Road agreement which has an original expiry date of 30 June 2016. Following a recent ballot, ASTI members have now voted to withdraw from the Croke Park hours upon completion of the Haddington Road agreement. The Croke Park hours are a valuable resource within the school system that allow certain essential activities involving the entire teaching staff or groups of teachers to take place. These include staff meetings, parent-teacher meetings, school planning, subject planning and mandated continuing professional development. Except for an element of parent-teacher and staff meetings, prior to the Croke Park agreement these essential activities took place within tuition time, meaning that schools closed for full or half days to carry them out. Pupils did not attend the school during these closures, resulting in interruption to tuition, additional child care costs and significant inconvenience for parents, particularly the parents of primary school children. Under the Croke Park agreement, teachers agreed to provide one hour of additional time per week in order that these essential activities could be carried out without school closure and the consequent interruption to tuition for pupils and inconvenience for parents. This time commitment continues under the Haddington Road and Lansdowne Road agreements.

It is important to note that many public servants committed significantly more hours than this under the public service agreements. In withdrawing from these hours, the ASTI is thereby repudiating the Lansdowne Road agreement. In opting to withdraw from the Lansdowne Road agreement, ASTI members are also opting to forgo a series of benefits and protections, as communicated by my Department previously. These include avoiding an increment freeze, continuation of the alleviation of the FEMPI Act 2013, pay cuts for higher earners, the supervision and substitution payment of €796 due to be paid on 1 September and protection against compulsory redundancy. A further significant consequence will be the withdrawal of the benefits introduced for new teachers under the Ward report, which enable them to gain permanent employment and full hours more quickly than before.

I am aware of union concerns regarding the usage of the Croke Park hours. In response to those concerns, my Department recently agreed with the INTO and the TUI that the usage would be reviewed, having regard to teacher professional judgement, system and school requirements and experience to date of best practice in the utilisation of the hours. As an immediate first step in that review, the maximum period of time available for planning and development work on other than a whole-school basis will be increased from five hours to eight hours from the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year and to ten hours from the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. TUI members are balloting on acceptance of this agreement and implementation of the review will be contingent on such acceptance. If the agreement with the TUI is endorsed by its members at ballot, this will also enable the implementation of other measures, including the re-use of flex hours and the implementation of the Cush report recommendations for fixed-term and part-time lecturers at third level.

The ASTI was invited to discussions with my Department on the same basis as the INTO and the TUI. Regrettably, the ASTI declined to take part in such discussions and instead decided to ballot on a withdrawal from the Croke Park hours. My Department’s invitation to the ASTI to discuss issues of mutual concern remains open. It demonstrates that the Lansdowne Road agreement is a framework within which genuine progress can be made.

Separately, the ASTI continues to operate a directive of non-co-operation with the new junior cycle programme that is being implemented in all schools. This is creating a disadvantage for their students and is unfair as well as denying their own members essential professional development and support. This needs to be addressed and I have written to the ASTI to arrange for an engagement on this following its indication that it would be willing to do so.