To target education is to undermine our future

The week after Easter has become synonymous with teacher conferences.

In what is normally a quiet week on the news front, the media give extensive coverage to the proceedings and the incumbent minister usually gets a rough time from some of the delegates. This year has been no different.

While teachers have many justifiable grievances, it is not terribly gratifying to see them interrupt and heckle Education Minister Ruairi Quinn during his speech. To interrupt anybody in the middle of a speech is bad manners, but coming from teachers and directed at one of the most senior elected officials in the country, it is simply not acceptable.