O’Neill: Government not recognising teachers’ voluntary coaching activity

GAA president Liam O’Neill insisted he simply had to make his hard-hitting comments about the Department of Education in his Congress address on Saturday.

The Laois man, a primary school principal, explained he needed to lay down a marker as the Government have failed to recognise the voluntary work done by teachers, at all levels, in coaching teams.

In his speech, he said: “We as an organisation are aware that the public service agreements have put the voluntary work done by our teachers at primary and second level under huge pressure. I know that those who planned the Croke Park agreement did so in a hurry and their haste to find a way to fill an extra hour per week per teacher may have blinded them to the benefit of recognising voluntary extra-curricular activity as a recognisable means of filling those hours. Those who framed the Haddington Road agreement do not have that excuse, however. Voluntary extra-curricular activity deserves recognition and it is a source of dismay to me that the Department of Education has failed to recognise this. We will continue to work with the department to bring about change in this policy.”