Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the dispute with the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, ASTI, over the Lansdowne Road agreement; and to provide an update on the arrangements for dealing with the data protection issues that may arise if financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation is applied to ASTI members in second level schools. [18464/16]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Many issues will have to be handled in the Minister's Department this week, in particular the issue of the ASTI and the Lansdowne Road agreement. There are other industrial relations issues in the Department, including other issues with the ASTI. An update to the Dáil is needed on how exactly the Minister proposes to approach what is threatened by the ASTI and what he is doing to prevent serious industrial unrest and difficulties in the education sector in September.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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ASTI members voted recently to authorise the ASTI standing committee to direct its members to cease fulfilling the Croke Park agreement hours. The decision to withdraw from these hours is a serious issue with implications beyond the question of whether the hours are fulfilled or not. This decision means the ASTI is withdrawing from the Lansdowne Road agreement. These hours represent a real reform with real benefits for parents and children and they facilitate staff meetings and parent teacher meetings without schools closing for half days. They represent 33 extra hours per year, which is less than one hour per week.

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 recently. These include avoiding an increment freeze, continuation of the alleviation of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013 pay cut 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 of withdrawing from the Lansdowne Road agreement will be the withdrawal of benefits introduced for new teachers under the Ward report, which enabled them to gain permanent employment and full hours more quickly than before. I am aware of the union's concerns on the Croke Park hours but in response to these, my Department recently agreed with the INTO and the TUI that the usage would be reviewed having regard to teacher professional judgment, system and school requirements and experience to date of the best utilisation of hours.

I am keen to resolve this without a breach of the Lansdowne Road agreement. I have extended a further invitation following a recent meeting with the ASTI on the junior certificate to discuss these issues of concern. This afternoon the ASTI issued a statement saying it will issue a directive to its members to withdraw from Croke Park hours, thereby repudiating the Lansdowne Road agreement. I am disappointed it has chosen to repudiate the agreement. However, the union has indicated it will accept my invitation to talk. I hope this will give it and my Department the opportunity for constructive exchange of views on matters of mutual concern.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I am surprised that such a meeting has not taken place before now. There are difficulties on both sides and the ASTI leadership must reflect what its members have voted for and represent them but there must be value in talking and trying to resolve this because we face an administrative nightmare for the Minister and the Department. How will the Minister do this? Are we going to use the data protection forms that were signed by TUI members a couple of years ago or does the Minister have to reach out to TUI members again to ask them to certify that they are members of the TUI? Some schools are TUI and others are ASTI and there are quite a lot, particularly in the community and comprehensive sector, that are mixed union.

I do not know how the Minister is going to do it. What I do know is that if this dispute is not resolved and if it is simply the case that the ASTI repudiates and the Department institutes punishment or the consequences of that repudiation, there will be chaos in schools in September. There are no two ways about it and members and parents will be distinctly unhappy. There must be value in the Minister taking a grip of this issue and taking the lead on it with his colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, in order to resolve it. To me, it urgently needs to be resolved, with the issue of junior certificate reform.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The ASTI was invited by my Department to participate in the discussions with the TUI, but it declined to do so.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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That is disappointing.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It had also declined an invitation from the previous Minister. However, I did recently meet it on the issue of junior certificate reform and I am glad that today it has indicated that its representatives are willing to meet me following my invitation to discuss the issues involved further. I am very disappointed, however, that it has also signalled today that it will trigger the measure on the withdrawal of hours which will put it outside the Lansdowne Road agreement. That is a very disappointing development, but notwithstanding this, I look forward to talks with it.

On the issue that the-----

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The practicalities.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Yes. In implementing the Lansdowne Road agreement my Department is conscious of the requirements of data protection legislation and putting in place arrangements to distinguish between teachers who are represented by unions that have accepted the agreement and those represented by unions that have not. These arrangements are being finalised and my Department will publish a circular in early July to notify teachers and the system in general.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Minister on one point: the ASTI should be in talks. I encourage its members to ask their leadership to go into talks. I also ask the leadership to show leadership. It is not acceptable that children may be put at risk, not simply because of the repudiation but also because of the general atmosphere that would pervade in schools come September. That is what I am mostly concerned about. There will also be difficulties in implementation in schools with mixed union representation. While in most sectors of society we have relatively quiet and normalised industrial relations, in one of the most critical sectors, the education system, we almost have an industrial relations powder keg in which people on every side are very slow to enter talks about issues. There can only be benefits in talking and it must happen. I, therefore, appeal to both sides to see if there is some way out. I appeal to the ASTI, in particular, to look very carefully at the consequences.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Lansdowne Road agreement is an absolutely vital framework and every trade union within the public service has been within it. It is allowing us to manage our resources and make investments in important areas that are crying out for resources. Working within collective agreements of this nature has been crucial to the development of stable industrial relations. That is the way to proceed. It is deeply regrettable, therefore, that the ASTI has chosen to move outside it in making this decision. Notwithstanding this, I am glad that it has accepted the invitation and I will sit down with its representatives.