Teachers need to face up to grim realities outside the school gate

I can’t shed many tears for the teachers. Especially when I reflect on the sleepless nights we are all having in coping with our fears of job insecurity and falling incomes.

Average teacher pay is €52,000 per annum. This has increased by 85% over the past 12 years. Extra allowances and increments are payable on top of this

LAST week’s teacher conferences provided an excellent synopsis of all that has gone wrong with politics over the past decade. Ordinary taxpayers were taken aback by the outspoken nature of contributors. They appeared like spoiled children demanding that they and their sector be exempt from the economic depression. Their anger and vehemence appeared totally disproportionate when set against the devastation that so many are suffering through unemployment and financial stress.