How do Irish teachers' wages compare with those in Europe?

While Irish teachers don’t earn the huge pay cheques paid to teachers in Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries, their starting salary is towards the top third of the table of countries, and is considerably higher than their teachers in countries like France, Italy, and Portugal.

Irish teachers are paid just over a third of their Swiss counterpart's pay packet when they first go into a classroom, but they earn over seven times the salary of Albanian teachers.

A new European Commission study on 38 education systems found gross statutory starting salaries range from around €5,000 to more than €80,000 per year, depending on the country.