Teachers' strike: Department agrees process with school boards to arrange cover during strike action

The race has begun to arrange replacement staff to limit how long over 500 second-level schools will be forced to close due to industrial action by teachers next month.

Ahead of talks today between Education Minister Richard Bruton’s officials and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), the department finalised arrangements with schools’ bodies to get staff in place after the mid-term break to supervise students during lunch breaks and other periods.

The union’s 18,000 members will stop doing these duties when schools are due to reopen on Monday, November 7, after a week-long mid-term.