More than 80 DIT teachers to be laid off

MORE THAN 80 part-time teachers are being laid off by Dublin Institute of Technology because of an effective cut in Government funding.

The job cuts will save the institute around 750,000 a year but are likely to have a major impact on part-time courses.

The cuts are expected to result in fewer evening classes in engineering and art and design, and fewer classes for school-going children at the DIT College of Music. Some evening courses are expected to enrol new students every second year instead of annually and modules of some full-time courses could be cancelled.

The Teachers Union of Ireland said it appreciated the DIT budget was limited but it criticised the timing of the announcement.

“The institute has known since March that it had to cut jobs but it should not have taken this long to decide how many and where. We hope to meet with DIT directors to alleviate the extent of the job losses,” said TUI executive committee member Margaret Duignan.

DIT president Dr Brendan Goldsmith said the cuts will mean the loss of 420 teaching hours a week from September, equivalent to 23 full-time posts. It will mean loss of work for 84 of the institute’s 700 academic staff, mostly in the applied arts, engineering and built environment fields.

“Given our funding position, we have no further room for manoeuvre,” Dr Goldsmith said.

The DIT budget from the Department of Education was increased by 3% to €93 million this year, but when inflation and agreed pay awards are taken into account, it amounts to less than its 2002 allocation.

TUI called on Education Minister Noel Dempsey to provide funding but the minister’s spokesperson said the running of DIT is the responsibility of its Governing Body and management.

However, DIT students union president Hugh O’Reilly laid the blame firmly with Mr Dempsey “The Department of Education gave DIT a budget that was unsustainable,” he said.