Ruairi gets off to flyer by keeping his feet on the ground [Independent.ie]
- Published: 26 April 2011
IT was such a lovely sunny day in Sligo for the opening day of the INTO conference that the temptation to ask Education Minister Ruairi Quinn if we could all dul amach and sit on the grass while he spoke was almost overwhelming.
One of the sure signs that Easter is at an end is the start of the triumvirate of teachers' conferences, a weeklong talkfest of debate, workshops, speeches and synchronised moaning.
And the 700-plus primary school teachers who packed into the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sligo yesterday for the opening of the congress had a schoolbag-ful of grievances to present to the new boy, Ruairi, who was embarking on his first round of conferences -- a sort of post-Easter Stations of the Cross.
There was quite a smorgasbord of concerns: the lack of work for newly qualified teachers, the employment of unqualified teachers in schools, the reduction in the numbers of special needs assistants, pupil numbers, classroom sizes, and the state of uncertainty over how the IMF/EU bailout will affect the education sector, to name a few.
Out in the sunshine a group of youthful protesters -- first-year and student teachers -- donned blue T-shirts daubed with poster-paint slogans: 'I Didn't Bankrupt the Country', 'You Paid to Train Me... Now Let Me Work', while a co-protest group of parents of children with special needs arrived with kiddies and balloons in tow.
However, Ruairi received a good welcome in the hall which was packed to the rafters with delegates.
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