I raise the urgent need to regularise the contracts of adult education tutors employed by education and training boards, ETBs, and the establishment of a salary scale that accounts for their years of service. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is in the Chamber. He will know I have raised the matter with him and submitted parliamentary questions many times. There are approximately 2,500 full-time adult education tutors. That is what we are talking about. They are employed by ETBs across the country. Different rates are paid to tutors in different places. For example, in Donegal adult education tutors are paid less than those in the Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim education and training board, MSLETB. In Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim, tutors are paid what is known as the unregistered teacher rate, which is also paid by some other ETBs. Many of these tutors are fully qualified teachers and are registered with the Teaching Council but are being paid an unregistered rate. By far the biggest issue is that their hours are capped at 22 hours of class contact time per week. They are not paid for any preparation, research or work they do to prepare lesson plans etc. They get nothing for that work. Their salary is based on an unregistered teacher's salary and capped at 22 hours per week.

However, that is not the end of it. Adult education tutors do not get paid for the summer months or at the term breaks at Christmas or Easter. In fact, adult education tutors who protested outside Leinster House yesterday were on mid-term break. They all had to sign on for jobseeker's allowance for the week, as they have to do for most of the summer, Christmas and Easter. That is really unfair. They deserve a proper contract of employment. One tutor I spoke to last autumn told me it took several weeks to organise the jobseeker's allowance. He got it, but when he went back to work at the beginning of September it was almost the end of October before he got paid. In the meantime, he had to pay all his bills, including his electricity bill and his mortgage. He also needed to put petrol in his car to go to work. That is just one example but it is typical of the many.

In March 2020, almost three years ago, the Labour Court recommended that the Department of Education make the tutors an offer. Last July, tutors were promised that the proposal would be on the table by the end of September and almost five months later, there has been no word. Those tutors have waited and waited. They have uncertainty about hours and annual income, which has a huge impact on all of their lives. I ask the Tánaiste to use his influence in any way he can to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue in respect of our commitment to adult literacy, adult education and the importance of ensuring high quality resources are available to enable us to achieve the objectives we have set in respect of adult education and literacy more generally. Some 3,300 adult education tutors are employed across the 16 ETBs. There is no specific public sector grade, as the Deputy has said, for adult education tutors. They are paid on the basis of an hourly rate and, as the Deputy said, generally at the unqualified teacher rate. Progress has been made on other issues for adult tutors. However, a claim from SIPTU and the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, to align adult education teachers to a payscale of an existing ETB grade remains unresolved.

In 2020, the Labour Court recommended that the official side make an offer and a joint proposal has been prepared by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and the Department of Education, which retains regulatory responsibility for the ETB sector. That proposal is currently under discussion with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, with a view to finalising an offer to the unions at the earliest opportunity.

Progress has been made in the regularisation of the adult education tutors with the introduction in 2017 of a consistent method for awarding contracts of indefinite duration across ETBs, and the provision in 2019 of access to leave schemes, paid leave and the appropriate public sector pension scheme. While the Labour Court recommended in March 2020 that the official side make an offer on the issue of a payscale alignment, it accepted that, having regard to the contrasting nature of the roles, qualifications, flexibility and regulatory frameworks involved, any offer could not involve alignment with the teachers' scale. A joint proposal has been prepared with a standardised payscale aligned with the Youthreach resource person's scale. That would apply to staff employed in ETBs to deliver further education training programmes. Those staff are currently employed under a variety of terms and conditions.

There is still work to be done on the issue. An offer will be made and no doubt there will be further discussions. Nothing here is a fait accompli. This is a matter that needs to be dealt with and resolved.

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. He mentioned the 3,300 tutors employed in ETBs. Approximately 2,500 work full time. I know that the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform uses the 3,300 figure when it talks about the costs but the other 800 tutors are on two four-hour contracts. That is a small point.

The Tánaiste is right that some progress has been made. He raised the issue of public service pensions. We must remember that a public service pension will be based on a 37-hour week while tutors' hours are capped at 22 hours per week. That means they end up with a much smaller public service pension. It is, according to my calculations, 59% of what it might be. That is not even the end of it. There are between 15 and 17 weeks every year when those tutors are availing of jobseeker's allowance and are not contributing to a pension. That brings them down to between 39% and 42% of the public service pension. We can see how urgent it is that we deal with this matter. There has been unacceptable delay in regularising their contracts. I ask that the response is speeded up as much as possible.

I am not arguing with the Deputy on this point. The value of the role of the tutor, which has now existed for over 25 years or more within the further education and training sector, is generally accepted. The regularisation of the grade is essential to ensure the flexibility and agility we need to meet current and future needs. The Future FET: Transforming Learning National Strategy 2020-2024 sets out an ambitious agenda for the sector. Tutors have a critical role in ensuring that the sector continues to adapt and facilitates the development of responsible and agile learning pathways to realise the targets set. It is always my view that we need agility and flexibility. We need to respond to this issue and agility and flexibility are critical, particularly, at times, around the qualifications piece. I do not want to say too much but sometimes a system can be too regulated in respect of the qualifications side of the coin and in terms of the range of courses we provide. The people who are best placed to provide those courses may not have standardised qualifications. Sin scéal eile. I am with the Deputy in respect of resolving this issue. I know the Minister, Deputy Harris, is equally committed.