The absence of any new cuts in the 2014 education budget for schools does not mean things are getting any easier, a principals’ leader has claimed.

The Government will only talk to the union of 16,000 teachers disrupting 500 second-level schools if they are willing to sign up to the Haddington Road deal, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s top civil servant said yesterday.

Open days for prospective parents are being moved forward and class trips face cancellation because of the looming teachers’ industrial action at 500 second-level schools.