The Burning Question: How do you feel about the teachers' action?

Enid O'Dowd

It has been very terribly stressful for students who are doing exams this year. I feel the teachers certainly do deserve to have a revision of their pay - the conditions they work under have really changed, I think for the worse, but the way in which the strike took place was awful. It has been terribly unfair as some students have been at private colleges or their teachers have not been involved.

Mary Callan

The way the teachers went about the action was all wrong. If they had had an all-out strike at the beginning of the school year last September, I am sure that everything would have been sorted out and they would have retained public support. They deserve a pay review, but there needs to be a proper charter drawn up of what their responsibilities are and their pay in relation to that.

Tom Lillis

I am most concerned about fifth-year students. People used to say, "You pass your exams in fifth year and you pass your honours in sixth year", but those coming into fifth this year, back from the disruption of Transition Year, have not been given a chance to get into their Leaving Cert course. I really feel sympathy for the teachers, but I am very sorry that they carried out the action in the way they did.

Barbara Johnson

The Government hasn't handled this dispute at all well, but I think we as parents are being listened to and taken a bit more seriously. I respect the position of the teachers, but it should never have go to the stage it did. It has been very hard on the students, but I think it has shown that there needs to be meaningful discussion between Government, teachers and parents.

Anne McInerney

It has been such a hurtful experience, the way in which the teachers' strike was handled. I do have real sympathy and respect for them, but it is just awful that the children have had such a stressful, disrupted time. I think it has been dreadful for the first-year students or for children with special needs. They are trying to settle into second level and they need a really stable routine.