Fianna Fáil candidate for Laois-Offaly, Cllr Peter Ormond, has said that his party is committed to ending the current pay inequality for teachers.
The Offaly Councillor commented, “This is a matter of fairness. It is unfair that teachers who began working after 2011 are paid significantly less than their colleagues who are doing the exact same job and have the exact same qualifications.
“It also goes to the heart of the growing crisis in recruiting and retaining teachers in Ireland. We train teachers to an exceptionally high standard but pay has become a barrier to many staying here to work.
“Fianna Fáil is pledging to reduce class sizes to 20 by the year 2025. It was Fianna Fáil that secured an initial reduction in class sizes to 26 pupils in Budget 2018. We need to build on this to bring class sizes here in line with European averages. To achieve this, we need to recruit and retain more teachers.
“The single biggest move that will help this is to end pay inequality for teachers. My party is committed to establishing a pathway to make this happen as part of our steps towards a public service pay agreement this year.”