One of Ireland's main teaching unions opened its annual conference tonight with demands for better pay topping the agenda.
The Irish National Teachers Organisation will hear from Minister for Education Mr Woods and his Northern Ireland counterpart Mr Martin McGuinness when the main bulk of the conference gets under way tomorrow.
During the congress, at the South Court Hotel, Limerick, delegates are expected to back a motion for a "campaign of action" unless demands over pay are met.
The motion, tabled by Tallaght West Liffey District Committee, explains that research by the Public Service Benchmarking Body shows that pay rises for teachers between 1988 and 2000 were well below those for the public service at large.
The conference is also expected to back a motion deploring the "outrageous threats and attacks on teachers, school children, parents and education workers that have occurred in Northern Ireland since the last Congress".
The motion follows the now-suspended protests against Catholic children at North Belfast's Holy Cross Primary School and subsequent threats against staff.
The congress will hear a motion appealing for a reduction in the length of service, from 35 to 30 years, before the chance of early retirement.
Finally, delegates will vote to lift a cap on schools' expenditure. During the week the annual conferences of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland and the Teachers' Union of Ireland are also set to get under way.
PA