School principals withhold forms in protest action

HUNDREDS of school principals have stopped sending important paperwork to the Department of Education until a row about more than €2 million owed to them is resolved.

The dispute between the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members working in vocational schools and community colleges, and secretarial staff of Vocational Education represented by IMPACT, centres on an administration fee attached to payments to all schools for supervision and substitution agreed in 2003.

Because the 240 schools in the sector are managed by the local VECs, disputes have arisen in some areas about whether the money should be paid to the principal or secretarial and administrative staff. In a 400-student school, it is worth about €2,000 a year and an estimated €2m is outstanding since the dispute began four years ago.