Members of the secondary teachers' union the ASTI have voted in favour of a pay deal that will see them receive €38 per hour for supervision and substitution work.
The counting of votes in a ballot of the 17,000-member union ended this evening with 58 per cent voting in favour of the deal. Turnout was 55 per cent.
In a major boost for Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, the members voted against the recommendation of the ASTI executive. Last year, the teachers voted in favour of the deal but a dispute over on-call duties meant a second vote was needed.
Controversially, Mr Dempsey urged teachers directly to accept the deal through a series of nationwide meetings. But he will be aware that today's vote was a 4 per cent swing against the deal.
The union has refused to accept the findings of the Benchmarking process and is still pursuing significant pay increases separately. However, the central executive committee last week said it would ballot members on the national pay deal without making a recommendation.