TEACHERS PET:Buoyed up by his success (thus far) over class size, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe is digging in as the Budget row over changes to teacher substitution continues.
School mangers and teacher unions have warned pupils could be sent home from January 7th when the new regime kicks in. But Batt seems remarkably unfazed.
The Budget plan to cut substitution cover for teachers on uncertified sick leave and those on official school business at second level has unleashed a storm of protest. But Batt is hanging tough.
Batt's line is that substitution cover for these areas was only introduced in 2003 - and that the world did not fall in before then.
Privately, the Department claims there is a widespread abuse of substitution cover in schools - and don't be too surprised if Batt even mentions this in public.
He told the Dáil last week that spending on the substitution scheme in primary schools has increased from €26 million in 2003 to a projected €84 million this year. It also costs €67 million in secondary and community/ comprehensive schools and no less than €38 million in VEC schools.
All told, that's €189 million - not to mention the €1,789 allowance paid to teachers for supervision and substitution.
Expect more of this stuff to be rolled out by Batt and his team as the pressure builds on the substitution issue.
Some in the Department favour "tweaking'' of the substitution arrangements to allow everyone save face. A solution could easily be found by limiting uncertified sick leave and restricting, rather than eliminating, substitution cover for school business.
But there are few signs that Batt is the mood for anything that smacks of a U-turn.
The Minister is due to meet the INTO and school managers on the issue in the next 10 days. But this issue could continue to cast a shadow until January.
• Marion Coy, the energetic president of the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) showed remarkable prescience in her graduation address to students over two years ago.
Coy told the young graduates about a little known Democratic Senator in the US who might one day change their lives. His name? Barack Obama.
