Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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118. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his policy in relation to two-tier pay among university teaching assistants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40634/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government supports the gradual, negotiated repeal of the FEMPI legislation, having due regard to the priority to improve public services and in recognition of the essential role played by public servants.

The matter of new entrant pay is a cross sectoral issue, not just an issue for the education sector alone and the public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to start.

Section 11 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 provided that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform would prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the cost of and a plan in dealing with pay equalisation for new entrants to the public service.”

The report was subsequently laid before the Oireachtas and in September 2018, an agreement was reached between the Government and the public services committee of ICTU in respect of new entrant pay.

The measures were applied on the 1^stMarch 2019 and addressed two additional scale points that were applied under the Haddington Road Agreement. The September agreement provided that there would be two interventions, at point 4 and point 8 of the pay scales, whereby new entrants would bypass these points on the pay scale. This intervention reduces the time spent on the pay scale in order to progress to the maximum point of the scale.

The current series of restorative measures for new entrants have been achieved through continued engagement and collective bargaining between the Government and the public service unions and shows the benefits that such engagement can bring.