IPPN

EDUCATION Minister Batt O'Keeffe was embroiled in another heated row with teachers' unions yesterday.

He accused their leaders of using "emotive" and "dangerous" language and of exaggerating the impact of the Budget measures on education.

The war of words intensified as the INTO in turn accused the minister of misleading the public over the issue of teachers' sick leave while the TUI rejected suggestions that it was involved in scaremongering.

The latest spat between the minister and the teachers' unions flared as Mr O'Keeffe stoutly defended the budgetary measures on education during a grilling at the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science.

Hitting out at the use of words like "armageddon" and "catastrophic" to describe how the sector had been affected, Mr O'Keeffe said the country was in "dire" financial straits and he needed the flexibility and co-operation of teachers and their union leaders.

Extreme

"I know that the measures to be implemented next year will present challenges at school level. However, as I have said repeatedly, I cannot accept the extreme claims being made about their impact," he said.

Mr O'Keeffe said that while the unions had the interests of their members at heart, he had to look after the interests of the economy to ensure children had a future they could look forward to.

"I need your co-operation and flexibility," he told union leaders. "I know it's going to be difficult in a number of areas but we are in dire financial straits. We need some flexibility and we need to reduce costs, and until the economy comes back to where it should be I need your support."

Fine Gael's education spokesman Brian Hayes said the substitution measures would cause havoc in classrooms while new staffing levels would result in 500 schools losing at least one teacher next year.

Former Fianna Fail TD, Joe Behan, who quit the party over the Budget, said the minister had made a serious mistake by becoming involved in a row with the unions at a time when they should all be pulling together.

But Mr O'Keeffe found himself in more hot water after telling the committee he did not have the money to continue meeting the rising cost of providing substitute teachers and he would stick to his target of shaving €28m from the cost of the scheme. Under new arrangements to come into effect from January, teachers on sick leave will, in future, need a medical cert before a substitute teacher is provided.

The minister said that 12,500 teachers were absent on uncertified sick leave on Mondays last year -- a statement later amended by his spokesman who explained that he was referring not to actual teachers but to the number of uncertified substitute days paid for during the year. The total number of uncertified days during the year came to almost 60,000.

"I'm not underestimating the difficulties that will arise in 2009 for schools. But I don't have the money within my budget to meet the rising cost of substitutions."

Accusing the minister of misleading the public, INTO general secretary John Carr said that on average there was just over one uncertified sick day per teacher per year and there was clearly not a problem in relation to teachers' sick leave.

"The minister knows that his proposals in relation to sick leave will cause chaos and turmoil in schools. This has been confirmed by school management. He is now trying to blame teachers for taking sick days, creating a misleading impression that teachers take an inordinate amount of sick leave, when in fact the opposite is true."

The Teachers Union of Ireland also criticised Mr O'Keeffe and said it rejected claims of scaremongering.

Mr O'Keeffe later had to run a gauntlet of protesters in Trinity College last night. The minister was met by more than 200 students concerned at moves to reintroduce college fees.

- Fergus Black