Every possible effort should be made to avert a strike on teachers' pay, the president of the Association of Primary Teaching Sisters has told the organisation's annual conference. Speaking at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin, Sister Mary Collins said students have their studies disrupted by a pay dispute.
We are all aware of the unprecedented increase in the cost of housing and accommodation both in city and latterly in rural areas. We realise that income has to be brought somewhat in line with expenditure. So we urge that talks commence with a view to settlement so that the pupil may not experience disruption in his or her education," she said.
Initiatives aimed at targeting educational disadvantage should not be confined to areas labelled "disadvantaged", but should take account of "the disadvantaged pupil in the ordinary setting", she said. "We praise the interventions which the department has put in place to date [but] unfortunately theses only take account of the schools in the areas designated 'disadvantaged'."
In response, the secretary-general of the department of education, Mr John Dennehy, said the philosophy of the present minister for education was to simultaneously strive towards greater inclusivity and to protect and promote equality for all. Balancing these tow approaches was not easy, "but it is a balance which the minister and the government have been attempting to achieve."