Up to 5,000 teachers in the firing line for cuts
October 15, 2012
MORE than 5,000 teachers face losing their allowances under a government review.
One of the targets is an allowance of between €532 and €1,572 paid to more than 2,750 primary and post-primary principals. Two in three of the country’s principals are in receipt of the payment for acting as secretary to the school board of management. The payment of a similar allowance to principals acting as secretary to a board of management in an institute of technology is also under scrutiny. Special allowances paid to teachers who teach through Irish, work in the Gaeltacht or who work on an island, are also being targeted for abolition.
The Gaeltacht grant is worth €3,063 to about 780 primary and post-primary teachers, while about 1,800 receive an annual €1,583 for teaching through Irish. About 30 teachers are in receipt of the island allowance, which is worth €1,842 per year. Department of Public expenditure and Reform general secretary Robert Watt has told the Department of Education that these were the priority for elimination. The proposal will now be discussed with the trade unions.
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