No 'fat to cut' from education budget [Independent.ie]
- Published: 28 April 2011
THERE is no scope for further education cutbacks, the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) warned yesterday.
ASTI general secretary Pat King insisted schools are already run "on a shoestring" and "there is no fat to cut".
Irish education was already chronically underfunded compared with other countries.
Mr King also promised that the trade union movement would start a determined fightback against powerful interests hostile to trade unions.
"There is a concerted push by powerful interests to target the trade union movement," he said.
"These include certain political interests, most multinational corporations, big business interests, at least one airline, and small business interests, celebrity economists and sections of the news media.
"There is a very consistent line put forward by these groups and their representatives that trade unions are nothing more than a 'vested' interest, that trade unions' day is done, that they are from another age," he said.
Mr King said it was ridiculous that anyone could blame trade unions for Ireland's economic woes.
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