New teachers on 'severely reduced pay'

Teachers who entered employment in the last four years are on a "severely reduced level of pay", according to the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI).

Teachers who entered the profession from February 2012 have had their starting pay reduced by 21.7% compared to those appointed prior to that, the union has stated.

All three teachers unions - TUI, ASTI and INTO - are holding their congresses this week.

General secretary of the TUI, John MacGabhann, said the situation is intolerable.

New teachers are living in poverty and are emigrating in order to earn a living wage #tui16

— Teachers' Union Ire. (@TUIunion) March 30, 2016

"For those people who have taken up a teaching position since 2012 are paid at a rate that is approximately 21% less than those who preceded them into teaching by a day, [it] is simply intolerable," he said.

"People doing the same work, before the same students, in the same schools, for the same time, with the same range of challenges and opportunities - except that the opportunity does not extend to having equal pay."