Heckles for minister during speech

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn was heckled and repeatedly shouted at during his speech to the Association of Secondary School Teachers conference in Cork.

About 12 teachers walked out holding red cards in protest at his speech.

While he received applause when he praised teachers for “the manner in which you have responded positively to our literacy and numeracy campaign and to our reforms”, he encountered moans, groans, and angry rebuttals when he explained why the country could not avoid cuts to the education budget.

“When I hear appeals at this conference or elsewhere for the reversals of budget measures or calls for increased investment in education, it worries me that the gravity of the fiscal crisis is still not fully understood, ” he said.

Mr Quinn also used his speech to urge teachers to vote yes in the fiscal compact vote next month.

Many of the delegates shook their heads, sighed, and heckled him for using a teachers’ conference to promote the yes campaign.

“A yes vote is a step out of our economic strait jacket” said Mr Quinn.

He also told the conference he would publish proposals in the coming weeks to amend Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act to remove discrimination against gay and lesbian teachers.

He said he had recently held discussions around a draft bill with senators Averil Power, Ivana Bacik, and Katherine Zappone.

“We are determined to achieve progress on this matter in the near future.”

Meanwhile, on the fringes of the conference, a small subgroup of ASTI members protested about the alleged weakness of their leadership.

The self-styled ASTI Fightback urged other teachers to join the group, which says it is trying to “rebuild” the union by fighting education cuts more aggressively.