Minister ignores reports in favour of half-baked ideas, says TUI

EDUCATION Minister Noel Dempsey is good at raising "half-baked ideas" but has done nothing about expert reports, the Teachers Union of Ireland said yesterday.

Speaking at the opening of the TUI's annual conference in Galway, president Derek Dunne said dust was gathering on the McIver report on further education and the Points Commission report.

"This minister can talk the talk. The question is can he walk the walk?"

Mr Dunne said Mr Dempsey, with whom he is to debate later today, was wrong to favour league tables. He said they would discriminate against schools. In 1998, the education partners agreed the tables were unacceptable.

"What has changed? League tables should remain banned," he said.

The two crossed swords last year when Mr Dempsey did not warm to suggestions he might only be remembered as the man who introduced the plastic bag tax.

To applause from around 460 delegates, Mr Dunne said Mr Dempsey's attempt to define the format of his conference appearance was unacceptable.

"Trade unions are independent of Government. We will not accept dictation from anybody as to how our conference is organised."

According to Mr Dunne, many vocational teachers and Institute of Technology lecturers are being bullied, harassed and intimidated.

However, he welcomed the Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill, which requires schools to accept students with learning disabilities and provide for their needs.