Row over ‘unlawful’ protest outside school ahead of Minister for Education’s visit

A row has broken out between a secondary school and a teachers’ union over an “unlawful” protest in advance of a visit from Minster for Education Norma Foley on Friday.

Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) staged a protest outside Presentation College Athenry in Co Galway on Friday afternoon over what it said was the school’s “refusal” to allow a teacher to attend Teaching Council meetings.

Niall Duddy, a maths teacher, is an elected member of the 37-person Teaching Council, the professional standards body for the teaching profession.

The ASTI said the school’s refusal to allow Mr Duddy attend meetings was “denying thousands of teachers their right to be represented on the Teaching Council”.

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Members of the union, including ASTI president Miriam Duggan and general secretary Kieran Christie, held a “short” protest outside the school on Friday afternoon at 12.30pm, in advance of the Ms Foley’s official opening of the school after 2pm.

In a statement, Presentation College Athenry said it encourages all staff to pursue continuous professional development opportunities to further their personal and professional development.

However, in this case, it said its maths teacher was requesting release from teaching duties amounting to one day per week.

“Such regular absences from class teaching, which have been sanctioned in previous years, are disruptive for students, not least because it is extremely difficult to procure and retain a substitute teacher for one day per week. The school has to put the interests of students first,” it said.

The school also said it had been advised that the “industrial action is unlawful”.

However, Kieran Christie of the ASTI said the union was “completely satisfied that today’s protest was entirely lawful”.

“The Irish Constitution protects the right to peaceful protest. The suggestion that the protest was unlawful is arrant nonsense,” he said. “A suitable substitute for the teacher involved was identified but the school declined to avail of their services.”

He said Mr Duddy had been elected by teachers to represent in excess of 8,000 teachers across 13 counties on the Teaching Council.

“The board of management of Presentation College Athenry are displaying a shocking level of disrespect for the rights of these teachers to be represented on the Teaching Council,” he added.

The Teaching Council, meanwhile, said it is “aware of this matter” but had “no role in employment arrangements for its members and who serve on the council in a voluntary capacity.”

It said it has benefited from, and has been grateful for, the “discretion and flexibility exercised by employers, including school patrons and boards of management, in facilitating attendance at meetings by members of the council”.