'Substantial increases' to public sector pay needed to retain and recruit teachers in Ireland 

The upcoming talks on public sector pay must deliver substantial increases to retain our talented teachers and to ensure Ireland continues to attract the best, said INTO President, John Driscoll. File picture.

Upcoming talks on public sector pay must deliver “substantial increases” to attract the best and retain talented teachers, the union representing more than 43,000 primary school teachers has warned.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) annual congress in Killarney got underway on Monday. 

In his opening address to delegates, INTO president John Driscoll said newly qualified teachers enter the system with “energy and enthusiasm.” 

“Maintaining these is essential if we are serious about our expectations for our schools.” 

The upcoming talks on public sector pay must deliver substantial increases to retain our talented teachers and to ensure Ireland continues to attract the best, he added.

When professionals such as teachers are struggling with the basic cost of living, it is glaringly evident that significant intervention is essential.

Addressing the INTO on Monday, the president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) also warned that the cost of living must be the main focus in pay talks this year for public service unions.

Kevin Callinan is the general secretary of Fórsa trade union and chairs the ICTU’s Public Services Committee (PSC).

The current public service pay agreement, Building Momentum, expires at the end of 2023. Talks on a successor agreement are expected to take place in the coming months.

Mr Callinan told INTO delegates that unions will concentrate on a number of key cost-of-living issues during expected pay talks, including the need to “make good the shortfall in pay against inflation” during the remaining term of the current pay agreement.

Mr Callinan told INTO delegates unions will concentrate on cost-of-living issues during expected pay talks, including the need to 'make good the shortfall in pay against inflation' during the remaining term of the current pay agreement. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Unions “were clear” that last year’s Building Momentum review didn't fully compensate for the rate of inflation, which averaged 8% over 2022, he added.

Last October, a review clause of Building Momentum saw a new agreement endorsed by all unions affiliated to and associated with ICTU of 6.5% across two years. On Monday, Mr Callinan said:

"When workers were weighing up the terms, they were mindful of government statements of intent to introduce various measures, including budgetary tax changes." 

We’ve already made it clear to Government and employers if these supports are withdrawn and if prices remain elevated — as they surely will — the shortfall will have to be made good in wage bargaining across the economy.

This will be in addition to factoring in the effect of the cessation of Government cost-of-living measures and supports, and in anticipation of cost-of-living projections over the period of any proposed agreement, he added.

The relatively recent advent of inflation has led the European Central Bank (ECB) to identify excessive company profits as a bigger driver of inflation than wage demand, Mr Callinan said.

“Many commentators are quick to try to dampen down wage demands with talk of a wage-price spiral. Working people can see through those arguments, particularly when they are exposed to obvious price-gouging.” 

“To be clear, there can be no sustainable case for wage moderation while inflation continues to be driven by excessive company profits, neither in the public or private sector.”