Education is the bedrock of our democratic society and the key platform for our economic and social development. In that context, the role of the teacher is crucial as the quality of the learning environment is dependent on a regular supply of quality teachers and their retention within the education system itself. Pay equality for new entrants to the teaching profession is a very important factor in recruitment and retention. Regardless of whether people admit it, there is a crisis in teaching supply currently, in particular at second level, with a drop of more than 60% in applications to postgraduate teaching courses between 2011 and 2017. There are real concerns about shortages in key subjects including maths, science, Irish and modern languages. The Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools has warned that subject choice for students and the quality of teaching are at risk unless teacher supply is tackled. Again, languages, maths, science and home economics were instanced. The Irish Primary Principals Network has stated that surveys show real difficulties in recruiting substitute teachers at national school level. The pattern is repeated nationally, with Dublin being particularly problematic. A survey by the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association found that 90% of principals had experienced difficulty in sourcing a substitute teacher in the current school year. Mr. Seamus Mulconry has stated the evidence is in, the debate is over and we have a crisis in primary schools. Mr. Ger Curtin of the ASTI has noted oral examinations face challenges as a result and Education and Training Boards Ireland has stated shortages will affect subject choices.

The situation is compounded by the housing crisis, an inability to buy houses anywhere close to the schools in which people teach, high rents and high insurance costs. Young teachers entering the profession face an unprecedented level of costs, particularly in cities, which compound the situation in terms of pay inequality.

My party asked for a report as part of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017. That report was published and it outlines the challenges relating to this issue. It would cost €200 million in the round, including €60 million for teachers and €80 million for education generally. I acknowledge that there has been some progress in narrowing the gap but there is still a wide divergence. Given the crisis, particularly in the area of recruitment, I ask the Taoiseach if he can outline when talks will commence with the trade union sector to outline a roadmap for the restoration of pay equality for new teachers and new entrants generally.

I think I am correct in saying that since the Fine Gael-Independent Alliance-Independent Government came to office, we have managed to increase the number of teachers employed by the State by 2,000. We have 2,000 more teachers working in the education system than we had just under two years ago. Overall, we are able to recruit teachers but we acknowledge that we are encountering difficulties in some areas, particularly when it comes to substitution and certain specialised subjects. That is in part because we have taken on so many additional teachers and many of the younger teachers who might have been substituting in the past are now in full-time jobs or taking up permanent positions.

We have already made some progress towards pay equalisation. In 2016, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, concluded an agreement with teachers unions that provided for pay increases of between 15% and 22% for newly-qualified teachers. Those increases took effect in January 2017 and, most recently, in January 2018. That now means that a newly-qualified teacher straight out of college has a starting salary of just under €36,000 a year, which is not a bad starting salary for a graduate when compared to what is available in various parts of the private sector. Notwithstanding that, we, as a Government, acknowledge that there are 60,000 public servants who joined the public service since 2011, that they are on lower salaries than their peers and that this creates a difficulty.

We have pay restoration now across the public service and pay increases in most parts of the private sector. When we entered into pay restoration and pay increases - because of the sacrifices that Irish people made and on foot of decisions of Government which made that possible - we decided that we would start with the lowest paid. That is where pay restoration started and that was done with the agreement of the trade unions. However, we acknowledge that there are now 60,000 public servants - some of whom have been in the public service for seven years - who are on lower pay scales and that this creates difficulties. It creates discord in the workplace that some public servants are on different pay scales to others. We are also conscious that among those 60,000 public servants are younger people, often in their 20s and 30s, who face expensive bills, such as those relating to rent, who are struggling to save to buy homes and who often face high child care costs. Bearing this in mind, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has published the report on analysis of this and it is his intention in the next couple of weeks, once the unions' conference season is over, to begin an engagement and negotiation with the trade union movement with a view to achieving pay equality for public servants over a number of years.

We need to bear in mind, as Deputy Micheál Martin rightly pointed out, that this would cost €200 million in one year in return for which we would get no extra hours and no extra staff. It is not the kind of thing we can do either in one go or in one year, but we do want to enter negotiations with the trade unions in the next couple of weeks on a pathway to achieving that.

When the population increases, the number of teachers we employ also rises unless the Government increases the pupil-teacher ratio. The extra teachers are a function of retaining the existing pupil-teacher ratios, although last year my party was successful in forcing the pace in terms of getting the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level reduced.

In terms of the pay equality issue, one of the biggest factors, particularly in Dublin and other cities, is the high living costs associated with the crises in the areas of housing and insurance. These costs make it almost impossible for young people in particular to eke out a reasonable standard of living.

Rents are exorbitant and it is now almost impossible to buy houses, given the inflation in house prices in some locations. Consequently, teachers must commute long distances to the schools in which they teach. That is a factor for workers across the private and public sectors in our cities.

The time is up.

Can the Taoiseach be more specific about the time schedule? Is he talking about two years or a longer period? When he says he is prepared to enter talks, does he accept there needs to be a specific timeline for all involved?

As is always the case in negotiations, it is difficult to set a timeline because it depends on the willingness of the two parties in the negotiation to compromise and meet each other half way. Having been involved in some negotiations, I believe that setting a deadline oneself can be counterproductive because having done so, it makes it harder to achieve the outcome one wants. We will not set a deadline on it but if the trade unions are willing to compromise and come to an agreement with us, as we have done in recent months, the Government will not be found wanting. However, we need to bear in mind that this is taxpayers' money.

Another important point is that Deputy Micheál Martin is absolutely correct to say that housing and rental costs are very high. They are especially high for younger and new entrant workers. However, we must be careful. We have been here before. I remember some of the factors that led to the last economic crash where there was a cycle of increasing house prices and rents, which led to increasing pay demands, which led to increasing inflation. We all know where that ended. We, as a Government, are determined not to repeat the mistakes made by other parties in office. We need to make sure that we do not end up in an inflationary spiral.