Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 November 2013
206. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills if it his intention to force pay cuts and other unilateral measures as contained within the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013 on those teachers who continue to reject the Haddington Road Agreement. [49530/13]
View answerThe provisions of Circular 31/2013, which give effect to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013 in the Education sector, will continue to apply in the case of teachers who are not covered by the Haddington Road Agreement. It is particularly significant that the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement are more favourable for virtually all teachers than those of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013. This is particularly true in the case of new entrant teachers.
The context of the Haddington Road Agreement was the need to address the major and unprecedented financial difficulties facing the State. At this stage all Public Service unions, with the exception of ASTI have accepted the terms of this Agreement. We are now in a situation in which ASTI members have not accepted the Agreement and are not operating the changes to the supervision and substitution scheme provided for in the Agreement that the other teacher unions are operating. Given that situation, I have indicated, as has my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, that the continued payment of the supervision and substitution allowance to ASTI members is unsustainable.
We have provided time and space for the recent discussions between officials from my Department and the ASTI in a final effort to resolve this issue, and it is now a matter for the membership of the ASTI to make their decision in relation to the outcome of those discussions. However, I would be less than frank if I did not make the point that the payment of the supervision and substitution allowance cannot be continued.
