The Taoiseach was very pleased following the comments by Angela Merkel at the weekend that we were special.

The Deputy is special.

Extra special.

Will you give the man a chance to make his point?

The Taoiseach expected and expects the people of this country to feel pleased at these comments but, apart from the warm fuzzy feeling that we might be expected to feel after Angela Merkel's kind words, can he tell the teachers who are marching to the Dáil today, particularly the young, newly qualified teachers, what their new special status will mean? So far, their experience of being special is that if they start working as teachers this year, they are so special they will be earning 25% less than people they are working beside for doing precisely the same job, and they are so special they will earn €250,000 less over their working life, which is, by the way, the price of a house-----

The Deputy's place cost a bit more than that.

-----because of their special treatment at the hands of the Taoiseach and the troika.

A gated community in Dún Laoghaire.

The gate house.

Order, please.

The young people of this country are so special they have had their class sizes increased, their SNAs cut, their language support and resource teachers cut, their capitation grants cut and registration fees increased for third level students. Can the Taoiseach tell the teachers on the streets, the young people of this country and their parents that our new special status means there will be no further cuts to education at primary, secondary or third level and that he will reverse this unfair discrimination against young, newly qualified teachers, who are special?

The Minister for Education and Skills, given the constraints on the budget and the budgetary preparation he has to go through, brought in a new system where teachers starting the profession are at a lower salary or wage than those who had been in the system before. I listened to the secretary of one of the unions say this morning that the protest today was not about wages but about the education sector in general-----

Education cuts, actually.

-----and the anxieties and concerns about the education process. A discretionary allocation for supervision is now available to new teachers which was not available in February of this year because allowances were all suspended. That leaves teachers starting off in the profession on a salary of €32,000 per year.

This is part of a very difficult situation for the country. Protests, as the Deputy is well aware as he is involved in most of them, are perfectly legitimate in Ireland, provided they do not get out of hand. While it is a challenging time for everybody, clearly, the Government has set a programme for recruitment of new teachers in the programme for Government and, because of the budgetary constraints set out, the starting salary for new teachers in the profession is reduced from what it was.

As a former teacher himself, does the Taoiseach think it is fair that young teachers coming into the profession this year should be working alongside people doing exactly the same job but be earning 25% less? Is that not straightforward wage apartheid? Is it not discrimination and ageism? Is it not completely unfair? Is not utterly unfair that the difference in earnings over the lifetime of those new, young teachers will be the price of a house? That is the difference. Are they to blame for the financial crash that has hit this country?

Fianna Fáil is.

Should they pick up the tab? Is it fair that our young people, students with special needs and those entering third level education should pay the bill for the gambling of speculators, financiers and bondholders that the Taoiseach and Angela Merkel are insisting they pay?

I ask the Taoiseach to tell those teachers, so they do not have to come out in protest and can concentrate on what they want to do, that he will reverse this unfairness and that the Minister sitting beside him, Deputy Quinn, will give a commitment there will be no further education cuts hitting primary, secondary or third level in the forthcoming budget. Can he give that commitment to us and to those who will be on the streets today?

Deputy Boyd Barrett should bear in mind that one of his group up there at the back is actually taking a case in the European Court to prevent the mechanism for funding this country from being put in place. It will be an interesting decision which the court makes and I understand all 27 judges are there.

That is just a loan shark operation.

As I said, the starting salary is €32,294 for teachers, which is a starting salary of €30,702 with an optional pensionable allowance of €1,592. I am advised by the Minister for Education and Skills that there are nine applicants for every teacher place. At least the decision gives clarity to new teachers and is an improvement on the pay situation of teachers who began employment in February of this year because allowances were all suspended and frozen.

A total of 80% of the current budget of the Department of Education and Skills goes on the pay and pensions of teachers. There is little room for savings. As the Deputy is aware, teaching is one of the few areas within the public sector which does not face a moratorium on recruitment. With a growing school population, opportunities remain for employment. Since September, 355 new primary school teachers and 182 post-primary teachers have received new contracts. That is more than 530 new posts in the teaching sector, which is an important consideration that the Deputy would not mention.

There are 10,000 extra pupils a year.

The Minister for Education and Skills has also pointed out that due to the demographics of the population and the growing school population that there will be a continuing need for additional teachers to be recruited in the medium term. I am also advised that the range of salaries and allowances is in line with the Croke Park agreement. As the Deputy is aware, I met with the implementation group and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform recently. The sectoral groups of the major Departments, including Education and Skills, have been meeting since then. They are discussing what can be achieved. In future, those are all matters that can be further discussed when we have rectified our public finances and we have a rapidly growing economy which will offer greater career and income prospects.

The IMF has said-----

For now, what has happened is in line with the Croke Park agreement-----

What happened to the Labour Party's commitment to equality? That was one of its policy positions.

-----and 530 new jobs have been created since September.

Let us have the revolution today.

Quiet, please.

What about the Labour Party commitments this week in Trinity?

There is no moratorium in the area and there are opportunities for future teaching posts because of the rise in pupil numbers.

Please, Deputies.

On the comment about teachers outside, the Minister is cognisant of the importance of the education system for the future development of the economy. He will do everything he can with sensitivity within the impositions on him.

We had Leaders' Questions but no answers.