A Department of Education spokesman has confirmed to ireland.comthat there is no link between the Benchmarking salary award and the supervision and substitution scheme.
He said the two were separate and that the supervision and substitution scheme was voluntary and acceptance or rejection of the scheme did not rule out those who had signed up to the Benchmarking pay award.
The ASTI had earlier rejected claims of a link between its acceptance of the Government's supervision-and-substitution scheme and the payment to its members of the Benchmarking pay award.
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, is quoted in The Irish Timestoday as saying "the ASTI won't get the 13 per cent unless they sign up for Benchmarking".
But a statement released this morning by the ASTI said the Minister had since clarified his comments - saying he had not made any link between supervision and substitution as had been reported.
The ASTI's general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, said: "The issue of supervision and substitution has nothing to do with the Benchmarking awards.
"The Benchmarking process sought to redress pay differentials between public and private-sector employees; it does not include payment for supervision and substitution."
