Latest: ASTI claims second-level teachers are 'being targeted and demoralised'

Update 1.20pm: Teachers have accused Education Minister Richard Bruton of provocation and embedding inequality as they strike over pay.

Update 2pm: The country is facing "the complete and utter shutdown" of the education system next month unless an immediate solution is found to the school strikes crisis, the Government has been warned.

Fiachra Ó Cionnaith of the Irish Examiner writes that