TD ‘fuelling’ belief teachers are highly paid in allowances

The ASTI said there was an understandable but “great misunderstanding” about teachers’ pay amongst the general public, and warned that “teacher bashing has become a popular sport”.

Speaking to delegates at the second day of the ASTI annual conference in Cork, general secretary of the union Pat King directly accused a backbench Fine Gael TD of “maliciously” fuelling a belief that teachers are highly paid in terms of allowances.

“This misunderstanding has been maliciously fuelled by a number of government backbench TDs including one particular Fine Gael TD who was a primary school principal up to a few years ago.