Teachers get tough in school dispute

AROUND 2,500 students at Cork School of Music could be without classes next autumn as staff take industrial action over unsuitable facilities.

The funding for the school’s proposed €58 million new home has been held up by the Government and no decision to give the go-ahead looks likely in the coming months.

But the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), representing the 70 staff at the college, have vowed not to teach at the various locations they have been using for classes from September.

For the last 18 months most classes have been taking place in a leased hotel which is unsuitable because of space and sound restrictions, while schools and sports clubs have also been making rooms available.

The TUI’s Cork colleges branch decided in April they would not teach in any premises which were unsuitable, when there still appeared to be some hope of the green light for the new building.

Branch secretary Pat Ahern said there might be some chance of holding back on action if there are developments before September.

“We have a series of actions planned but we’re going to have to see what will be done over the summer,” he said. “If there was some movement towards resolving the issue in the next few weeks, we could look at the situation again,” Mr Ahern said.

Last night a spokesman for the Department of Education said the funding issue still has to be resolved but officials are in on-going discussions with the Department of Finance.

Cork School of Music is a constituent college of Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), and has around 100 full-time third level musicians.

CIT renewed the lease arrangement with Moore’s Hotel for use as a temporary home in recent weeks. A spokesperson said the terms were agreed to facilitate the construction of a new building.

The public private partnership project would take two years to build but there are also fears that the private company Jarvis might seek multi-million costs from the Department of Education if it is not sanctioned.

The project was being hailed as a flagship one for the city’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2005.