Quinn: Gravity of crisis not understood
He drew the ire of some delegates at the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation congress when he suggested they and others still did not understand the gravity of the economic crisis.
He seemed unperturbed by the frosty reception he received, or by heckles and moans from the floor which greeted parts of his address, in the Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney.
A group of about 50 delegates, protesting about cutbacks in small schools, stood together in silence for about a minute as the minister began his speech and again at the end of the speech.
Standing close to the minister’s podium, they held up placards with campaigning slogans, one of which said: “Is your child important? That depends on your address.”
Afterwards, Mr Quinn paid tribute to the delegates who had shown “great dignity” in carrying out the protest. As for the general coolness of the reception, he told reporters that he could understand people’s frustration, adding everybody was frustrated at present. He described his reaction as “the kind of impatience that I had when a teacher kept repeating a message I had already learned”.
Mr Quinn, who was addressing the first of three teachers’ conferences, said a multibillion-euro deficit threatened the existence and solvency of the State, adding the only lenders willing to take a risk with Ireland were the EU, the ECB, and IMF.
“When I hear appeals at this conference, or elsewhere, for reversals of budget measures, or calls for increased investment in education, it worries me that the gravity of the fiscal crisis is still not fully understood,” he said to cries of disapproval.
The unallocated deficit in the education budget for 2013 was €77m and €147m for 2014, he said.
Pointing out that 80% of the education budget went on pay and pensions, he said the Government had protected education as much as it could.
Far greater reductions were being made in the number of public servants in other sectors, compared to those in schools, he said.
He said there were limits on the number of teaching posts that the country could afford and also stressed that small schools would have to take their share of cuts.
“Teachers in small schools cannot be immune from the requirement that is being asked of all public servants to deliver our public services on a reduced level of resources.”
Mr Quinn also referred to a circular obliging schools to give preference, as substitutes, to newly- qualified teachers ahead of unqualified and retired teachers.
While the amount of unqualified and retired teachers employed has fallen, he urged principals to give preference to newly qualified teachers.
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