Education Minister tells teachers 'no timeline on pay increase'

Education Minister Norma Foley speaking to the media outside the Government Buildings in Dublin about this year's leaving certificate exams amid reports that she is planning to rule out a hybrid approach to the state exams, despite calls from students and opposition parties. Picture date: Tuesday February 1, 2022.

There is no timeline for when teachers can expect to see an increase in their pay packets, but the government is "strongly aware" of the cost of living challenge, Norma Foley told primary school teachers this morning. 

Speaking before the INTO Congress in Killarney, Minister for Education Norma Foley saidthe government is “strongly aware” of the cost of living challenges for society, and that she “looks forward to discussion and engagement around the table” with teachers campaigning for pay increases.

She said that more than €2 billion has already been made available for a variety of different measures to tackle the rising cost of living, which are “quite comprehensive”.

She said the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, is “happy to engage” with public sector unions to address the issues caused by inflation.

The Minister said she could not give a definitive timeline on when teachers could expect to see a pay increase hit their bank accounts, or a specific figure as to how much a pay increase for teachers would cost, but she said preliminary discussions and engagement have already begun.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Minister Foley said she “looked forward to discussion and engagement around the table” with the INTO, which she said could be “challenging” but also “positive”.

“I think the most important factor here is to remember that Government is very clear in their understanding of the particular position in which we find ourselves currently, they have put together an unprecedented level of funding already in excess of €2 billion at this point and there is an acknowledgement to engage and to discuss further,” she said.

INTO General Secretary, John Boyle said that the union is “more worried about our members’ ability to make ends meet than we have been for a long, long time”, as inflation has “spiralled out of control”.

He said that engagement between Government and unions is beginning, and that the INTO will “fight tooth and nail” to get members a “fair pay uplift” to give members “respite from runaway prices and to protect their living standards”.

He said that Minister McGrath “must put on the table quickly, a package that makes up for the last two years of income decline and ensures that we get our fair share of the economic growth his own department is predicting.” This morning, the INTO passed a motion calling on the government to take swift action on teacher pay.

Proposing the motion, incoming Vice-President John Driscoll said that when Building Momentum was negotiated nine months into the pandemic, the assumptions on inflation and economic growth were “totally different than what has materialised since last summer”.

“The cost of living has risen dramatically in the last nine months – far outstripping the modest salary rises provided to public servants. Our members are struggling to make ends meet – bills for rent, childcare, energy, fuel and the weekly shop continue to rise in an inflationary spiral – the like of which has not been seen for 40 years,” he said.