Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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10. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will consider ending the pay inequality by restoring a common pay scale for all public sector workers and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31006/16]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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Equal pay for equal work is meant to be a basic principle that nobody would dispute. In that case, how can the Minister and Government stand over a situation of real pay inequality in our public sector? For example, new entrants to teaching could be €170,000 or more worse off over a career on the basis of when they entered the workforce.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The 10% reductions in starting pay for certain new entrants were introduced by the then Government in January 2011 as part of the national recovery plan in order to reduce the public service pay bill. The issue of addressing the difference in incremental salary scales between those public servants who entered public service employment since 2011 and those who entered before that date was addressed with the relevant union interests under the provisions of the Haddington Road agreement, HRA. From 1 November 2013, pre and post-2011 pay scales were merged into a single consolidated scale applicable to each grade. Generally, the third point of 1 November 2013 pay scale is equivalent to the first point of scale of the pre-2011 scale. 

The Lansdowne Road agreement provides the mechanism through which outstanding issues of concern to new recruits to the public service can be addressed in a negotiated way. This is reflected in the recent agreement between my Department, the Department of Education and Skills, the INTO and the TUI in respect of new entrant teacher pay restoration.  Contingent on the introduction of certain reform measures, a new incremental salary scale will be developed which is designed to address the current difference in pay for teachers recruited since 1 February 2012. The revised salary arrangement will be implemented in two phases on 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2018. The effect of this will be to assimilate all post-1 January 2011 and post-1 February 2012 new entrants to teaching onto a single new salary scale which will incorporate the honours primary degree allowance. This new arrangement will apply to members of the teachers' unions which have signed up to the Lansdowne Road agreement, namely, the INTO and TUI, which is evidence of how the Lansdowne Road agreement can be used to tackle issues of concern to public servants.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The Government is wholly committed to the implementation of the Lansdowne Road agreement as the most appropriate way for progress to be made on pay restoration and reform of our public services into the future. This agreement shows how the LRA can resolve issues of concern for our public servants.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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The Lansdowne Road agreement is evidence of how it cannot be used to tackle issues of concern.

This is why ASTI is right and is to be saluted for the actions it is taking. It is an act of intergenerational solidarity among teachers, almost 80% of whom voted for strike action. The majority of them are not affected by this but they understand that people must stand together if they are to defeat the Government and achieve equal pay for equal work. Among the unions that have signed up to the Lansdowne Road agreement, there is not pay equality. There is still a gap of several thousand euro per year. I have the rates here. Over the course of a career, the gap would result in a pay disparity of over €100,000. Does the Minister admit that there is pay discrimination against new entrants which is not based on any justifiable measure and which relates merely to the fact that they are new entrants? How can the Minister stand over such a situation? It is one of the most shameful acts of the Government. It was also a shameful act on the part of the unions that signed up to it.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I will examine the facts. Under the agreement I negotiated, along with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, with representatives from the INTO and TUI, significant progress was made in terms of in addressing an issue that mattered to the members of those unions. Let us examine the figures involved, none of which the Deputy acknowledged. The Deputy did not acknowledge that the two unions I mentioned raised the issue with the Government and, as a result of their efforts and negotiations with it, achieved progress for their members. Depending on which point of the scale a teacher is on, the highest increase is €7,700 and the increase at the maximum level is €4,300. Over a teacher's career, these gains will be worth €135,000. This has been achieved through the Lansdowne Road agreement and makes progress towards dealing with the issues the unions identified. In the interests of fairness, the Deputy should acknowledge the progress that is being made.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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I do not call it progress when a person who is on a "deal" salary on the first point of the scale will receive €33,000 per year whereas somebody who qualified pre-2011 will receive €39,000. That is a continuation of pay discrimination and it is why it is right that people are fighting against what is happening. The teachers, the Luas workers and the gardaí are showing that if people want to achieve pay restoration and justice, the best way to do so is to engage in struggle and strike action. The Government is preparing to try to recruit people to break the teachers' strike. However, people have seen the example of other workers and understand that this is how to win victories. I do not understand how the Government intends to recruit 1,000 extra nurses into the public health care system while this ongoing pay inequality exists. What will the Government do about it?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I would not expect the Deputy to acknowledge the argument I have made and he has not done so. The progress being made is being achieved by a change in our economic fortunes that the Deputy said would never happen. He claimed that the country would not get to the point where we would be able to make progress on these matters. We have made progress. The Deputy claimed we were recruiting people on strike pay. Due to the progress the Irish people have made and changes introduced in the recent budget, we will be able to hire more than 4,000 more front-line staff next year. Due to the change that has happened, we will be able not only to honour the wage commitments we have with public servants but we will also make progress - that is affordable for the country - in areas that are important to them. However, it is part of the Deputy's ideological agenda to never acknowledge progress on any matter, let alone that what I have outlined is happening through constructive and progressive engagement between reasonable leaders in the union movement and a Government that is doing its best to make progress with the resources available to it.