Protests voiced over pay cuts for new staff
The group of recently-qualified teachers protested at the Sligo hotel about reduced pay and pensions for new teachers since January and difficulties with getting substitution cover or any other work. Many were most angry about the use of retired teachers and unqualified people by schools as substitutes.
The Irish Examiner revealed yesterday that more than 900 retired people taught in primary schools between last September and the end of February — 43 of them for at least 50 days. It has also emerged that hundreds of unqualified teachers are still being used by schools for substitution cover despite growing numbers of teaching graduates seeking work.
