‘We must see fairness from the top down’

PRIMARY schools and their staff are paying a heavy price for the Government’s failure to get tough on developers and tax exiles, the head of the largest teachers’ union claimed last night.

In an attack on the economic policies of the Fianna Fáil-led coalition, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) president Declan Kelleher said primary principals are paying more than most public servants towards the economic recovery. They have not been paid a benchmarking pay award promised to them in late 2007, worth between €2,000 and €3,000 a year in allowances on top of their salaries.

“In the meantime tax exiles, tax shelterers, property tycoons and the wealthy are walking off scot free from their obligations because they are the friends of this Government that simply doesn’t have the courage to take them on,” he said.