In 2011, Mr Horgan and Ms Keegan qualified as school teachers in Ireland. As of that autumn, they commenced employment as teachers in an Irish State primary school. The salary scales for newly recruited teachers, contained in Circular 0040/2011, reduce, as of 1 January 2011, the salaries by 10% at each point of the salary scale in relation to the salaries of public servants recruited before that date. In addition, under that Circular, all newly recruited teachers were classified at the first point of the applicable salary scale, in contrast to previous practice consisting in classifying new teachers at the second or third point of that scale. Those measures were adopted in order to meet