Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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154. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans for equating newly qualified teachers since 2011 with those who entered the workforce previously; if he will report on discussions with the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland on the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10696/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As a consequence of the financial crisis, there was a need to enact a number of measures to reduce public expenditure so as to stabilise the country's public finances. These included pay reductions and also reductions to the pay of new entrant public servants, including teachers, since 2011. Collective agreements reached between the Government and the public service unions provided vital industrial peace during this very difficult period for the State.

The Lansdowne Road Agreement has allowed a programme of restoration to start. I have used this to negotiate substantial improvements in pay for new teachers. The agreement reached with TUI and INTO will see pay rises of between 15-22% (between €4600 and €6700) for new entrant teachers.

I accept that ASTI members had outstanding pay demands and that the deal did not travel the full distance that they set out to achieve.  However, it did represent significant progress, and the door remains open to the trade union movement seeking to advance this issue further in the context of future public service pay talks.

In education, there is a well-established increment system. Teachers are not paid equally. For example, the pay scale for teachers appointed prior to 2011 ranges from €32,009 to €60,155 depending on the date that the individual began teaching. Part of the negotiation to date has secured a convergence of the scales of recruits at different periods. Any further negotiation on new entrant pay cannot focus on just one sector. A broader assessment of pay and new entrant pay will be informed by the analysis of the Public Service Pay Commission.

Following discussions, the Teachers Conciliation Council published a set of proposals in November for consideration by ASTI members aimed at finding a resolution to their dispute.

The proposals provided ASTI members with an opportunity to benefit from the programme of pay restoration I mentioned above, including the agreement reached with TUI and INTO, which will see pay rises of between 15-22% (between €4600 and €6700) for new entrant teachers.

In addition, there were other immediate undoubted benefits for individual ASTI members in accepting the proposals including:

- Avoiding an increment freeze

- Inclusion of the S&S allowance of €1,592 into the pay scale

- Continued alleviation of the FEMPI Act pay reductions

- The Ward Report measures and a revised sequence for filling posts which enable fixed-term and part-time teachers to gain permanent, full-time jobs more easily and quickly than before

- An increase in the quantum of the Croke Park hours that can be worked on other than a whole-school basis

- A review of the usage of the Croke Park hours

- Protection against compulsory redundancy

- The €1,000 increase now being paid to public servants on 1 April 2017, brought forward from 1 September 2017 under the LRA, as a result of Government moves to address the anomaly that arose in the context of the recent Labour Court Recommendations in respect of the Garda Associations.

ASTI members have voted to reject the proposals put forward aimed at resolving their dispute and in consequence, to reject the Lansdowne Road Agreement. It is regrettable that many ASTI members will now suffer permanent financial losses and loss of other benefits as a result of this choice.

The proposals represented the final outcome of the process and there will be no further offer made to ASTI. The Government is committed to continuing to work with unions inside the agreement in progressing consideration of pay and conditions issues. The work of the Public Service Pay Commission is now underway in this regard.