Parents warned of unions’ power over education

UNIONS and civil servants hold too much control over the education system, the head of the country’s vocational sector warned parents over the weekend.

Irish Vocational Education Association general secretary Michael Moriarty said teachers organisations and the Department of Education should share control of the system with parents groups and management bodies.

“The department controls the purse strings, the school building programme, the quality and control of education services. The teacher unions, for their part, have the ability to command action and reaction by legal industrial relations disputes,” he said.