Confronting reality - A time for equity and not privilege

THE response of the teachers’ unions to a suggestion that salary increments due next year be deferred is as dispiriting as it is predictable.

It is also indicative of the denial that a huge number of us have yet to even confront much less overcome.

The teachers’ out-of-hand rejection of the modest suggestion, one that does not propose a pay cut, reflects a deep disconnect with today’s terrible reality but experience has taught us not to be surprised by the insistence that €22m pay increases be paid no matter what cuts are imposed elsewhere. Their position seems willfully disinterested in the fact that the country is bankrupt and that Europe is facing a financial crisis unlike any in the history of the European Union.