IPPN

Published: 30 October 2008

Source : Irish Independent

By John Walshe and Aine Kerr

Thursday October 30 2008

ANGRY teachers last night rejected Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe's claim that they were 'scaremongering' over education cuts.

At a mass rally attended by between 7,000 and 10,000 pupils, teachers and parents outside the Dail last night, unions and management bodies insisted the Government's proposed cutbacks would create classroom chaos from January and diminish the quality of education.

Incensed at the minister's recent attacks on teacher unions, a furious John Carr, INTO General Secretary, said the accusation of "scaremongering" was a "pathetic accusation" and an "act of pure desperation". He congratulated teachers and parents for coming out in their thousands during the mid-term break and on a rain-soaked evening.

"This is not about teachers. It is about pupils and their futures. Children do not have a voice or a vote. How dare anyone accuse me of self-interest when I have spent my life working to improve primary education," Mr Carr told protesters.

"How dare anyone accuse me of scaremongering when I am doing what few in government are prepared to do -- tell the truth to the Irish people".

The embattled Green Party, which was not represented at last night's event, also drew criticism from the INTO with Mr Carr arguing that the Green TDs had been elected on education promises.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore pointed to the decision to cut €7m in funding for books as an example of one of the harshest cuts inflicted on schools countrywide.

"What on Earth does this Government have against books?" he asked.

The Labour leader called again on all TDs, irrespective of party, to vote against the Government in a private members' motion today in the Dail.

Unpatriotic

Teachers' Union of Ireland president Don Ryan accused Mr O'Keeffe and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan of being "grievously unpatriotic".

"You have cut the legs from underneath an already creaking education system -- a system that is seriously under-funded by international standards; languishing in the lower league of developed countries and awaiting relegation to the league of third-world countries," he said.

Chief executive of the National Parents Council (primary) Aine Lynch said a third of parents had reported difficulties in paying the "voluntary contribution" that their children's school requested.

Joe Moran, ASTI vice president, also described as "misleading" the claim by Mr O'Keeffe that there would only be 200 fewer second-level teachers in schools.

- John Walshe and Aine Kerr