Teachers unleash fury over cuts in pay and spending

TEACHERS’ anger at Government policies and speculator greed that caused the economic crash, as well as cuts in wages and education spending, was made clear by a union leader last night.

Although the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) executive is recommending acceptance of the public service pay and reform deal reached by unions and Government last week, its president Máire Ní Chuinneagáin, left no doubt as to who primary teachers blame for the pay cuts they have already had to take.

She told the INTO annual congress that the equivalent of the annual education budget of around €9 billion will be invested every year for the foreseeable future just to pay the interest on NAMA debt, with the financial futures of teachers and others being mortgaged to pay for “the criminal deeds of the few”.

Ms Ní Chuinneagáin said the Government equates patriotism with giving €40bn to the lifeless Anglo Irish Bank and the same again to the other banks, while slashing the income of workers, welfare recipients and those with disabilities.

“Teachers are angry and rightly so, we’re angry at the waste of taxpayers’ public money going to bail out banks,” she told delegates in Galway.

“In the Ireland of today, unwanted hotel rooms and unsold apartments sit side by side with the prefabs that pass for classrooms. This is the legacy of the elite band of financial joyriders who we are now forced to bail out,” she said.

The president of the INTO, which has 32,000 members in the Republic, said all public servants have suffered an unprecedented attack on their wages, while paying the same increased taxes as every other worker.

She said that while public service pensions are under threat in a race to the bottom, because of the bad management of pensions in the private sector, there was no envy of public service pensions when investment markets were soaring.

“It’s like the boy racer suddenly casting an envious eye on his mother’s family saloon after he has wrapped his sports car round a lamppost,” she said.

Ms Ní Chuinneagáin said primary teachers are serving the country well but she is angered by Government demands for a more effective, modernised, transformed public service.

“When it comes to primary education, transformation is in Government’s own hands and the recipe is very simple.

“Stop making teachers’ lives more difficult, end the demoralisation and devaluing of the profession and provide the necessary funding to run modern, fit-for-purpose schools,” Ms Ní Chuinneagáin said.

She demanded that Government provide training for every teacher on child protection guidelines and enough experienced social workers to deal with issues as they arise.

“There is no point waiting for some other report in 10 or 20 years’ time into the inadequacies of the current system.

“It is time to have mandatory reporting but mandatory reporting to an overstretched and understaffed social service will not prevent abuse,” she said.

The INTO president called for proper staffing and supports for children with special needs and said the qualifications needed for staff in the Government’s free pre-school provision which started this year are unacceptably low.

She suggested that pre-schools which receive state funding should be led by qualified graduates in early years education.