Sir, – Regarding the online headline "School closures loom after teachers vote against pay deal" (May 20th), as a result of the ASTI vote to reject the continuation of Croke Park hours, school closures are not on the agenda and are certainly not "looming". Also, the vote to withdraw from Croke Park hours is not a "pay deal". There is absolutely no pay element to this vote, other than the thinly veiled threat to enact Fempi ( financial emergency measures in the public interest) legislation and impose financial penalties on teachers should a democratic union vote disagree with Government policy.
To be clear, Croke Park “hours” were introduced in 2010 as part of the public service Croke Park agreement, which protected public sector pay, which for many public servants had been slashed by up to 20 per cent between 2008 and 2010. Croke Park hours did not save the government one single cent – they were introduced as a “productivity” measure. Yet in the recent 2016 Millward Brown survey of ASTI members, 80 per cent stated that the Croke Park hours were the “least productive” task they carried out in school. Croke Park hours rolled into the Haddington Road agreement, which was passed at the second time of asking by the ASTI, and now the Lansdowne Road agreement, which has been rejected by the ASTI and other public service unions.
Máire Ní Chiarba, ASTI president, is quoted in the article as stating, “Schools can function normally without the Croke Park hours, just as they did prior to their introduction”. This is the true situation. School closures are not on the agenda and are certainly not “looming”.
The onus is on the Government now to engage with teachers, gardaí, nurses, all of whom have rejected the continuation of these unproductive hours. It is the Government that may trigger school closures should they choose to “punish” the ASTI for the result of their vote. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN McGRATH,
Collon,
Co Louth.