Teachers could have €500m in allowances cut

TEACHERS could find allowances worth €500 million a year singled out for attention when Finance Minister Brian Lenihan takes a €1.3 billion axe to the public service pay bill on Wednesday.

The cost of various allowances paid last year to primary and second-level teachers – except for those at schools run by Vocational Education Committees (VECs) – has been estimated by the Irish Examiner at more than €420m last year, based on Department of Education figures.

When an estimated €96m is added for 240 VEC schools, the total cost is well above €515m, or almost one-seventh of the state’s €3.8bn pay bill for 60,000 teachers in the 2008/09 school year.