Taoiseach intervenes ahead of teachers’ strike

The Taoiseach has made a last-ditch appeal to secondary teachers to call off the strike planned for next Tuesday, saying the only ones who would suffer were the pupils.

Enda Kenny denied his Government “bulldozed” through planned changes to the Junior Cert which have prompted 27,000 teachers to strike next week and again in January. He was responding to the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan should remove the “pre-condition” that she would not engage in talks with unions unless they accepted that 40% of Junior Cert marks would be awarded by their teachers.

Mr Martin said that removing this pre-condition and “going back to the drawing board” would prevent next Tuesday’s strike which will close around 720 secondary schools.