‘Thousands’ worry about future employment

A GROWING number of teachers fear being unemployed within months, are struggling to pay off big mortgages and face the possibility of nursing homes in old age because of Government cutbacks.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) general secretary Pat King’s address to 500 delegates at the group’s annual convention has warned of a tidal wave of financial crises for those tasked with educating Ireland’s next generation.

Speaking on the second day of the three-day meeting, he said “thousands” of members are potentially facing unemployment, deepening debt and miserly pensions.

“The ASTI has more than 2,500 members in temporary and part-time jobs who are looking for secure work, teachers who don’t know where or if they will be working next summer.

“Thousands more bought their homes at the height of the property boom and worry about paying their mortgage next month. Some are already in arrears,” he said.

The senior union official claimed that, despite calls from Education Minister Ruairi Quinn that more cuts needed to be made on pay or resources, the “pathetic” level of funding for the sector was already as low as it can go.

“It is a matter of great concern that [Mr Quinn] wishes to engage with the teacher unions on the issue of further savings under the four-year plan.

“There is no fat or waste in the education service. Schools are run on a shoe-string and overall investment in education has always been pathetic… Cutting education resources is short-sighted in the extreme,” he said.

The comment came as ASTI members raised concerns over how their pensions will be damaged by the financial crisis.

Non-permanent teachers’ committee chairman and Coláiste Chríost Rí teacher Paul McGrath underlined the anger by noting that, as teacher pensions plummeted, those for banker Michael Fingleton (€27 million), Charlie McCreevy (€173,000), Brian Cowen (€150,000) and Bertie Ahern (€146,000) have soared.

The concern was further highlighted by ASTI member and Socialist Party councillor Ruth Coppinger, who said she will not accept the prospect of being “shoved into a public nursing home” because her pension cannot support her in old age.