Principal pay hikes may not help fill vacancies

PAY increases for primary school principals as a result of recent benchmarking awards will do little to help fill vacancies, it was claimed yesterday.

Although the 3,300 principals of primary schools are among the very few grades of public servants to have been given any increase, the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) said the difference between allowances of 2,500 deputy principals which were also increased is still too little to incentivise promotions.

The pay hikes represent a significant rise in allowances paid to principals on top of their basic teachers’ salary, but the average increase in total income will only be between 1% and 4%.