A 10 per cent pay increase for over 40,000 teachers, due next month, could be in doubt because of a continuing dispute over the timing of parent-teacher meetings.
Talks between Department of Education officials and the teaching unions broke down yesterday after the Department demanded "major progress" on the issue.
The row threatened to delay the benchmarking increase due to teachers in January in spite of an independent review giving them the all-clear to receive the payments.
The review, carried out by an independently chaired, performance verification group, has approved benchmarking rises for the vast majority of education sector workers.
Teachers in two schools, however, Árd Scoil Rís, Limerick, and St Joseph's, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, are unlikely to receive the pay increases on schedule because of their participation in industrial action earlier this year. In each case the action was for one day only.
Housekeeping staff at Trinity College, Dublin, and technicians at Athlone Institute of Technology also face a delay before the pay rises are approved.
Every other group, including all other second- and third-level teachers, are entitled to the benchmarking increase, the verification group recommended.
The group was established to monitor whether education workers delivered the productivity improvements agreed in return for benchmarking.
The reports of similar verification groups for the civil service, health and local government sectors are due to be published today. Providing they give the all-clear, the reports will pave the way for up to 230,000 public servants to receive a 50 per cent instalment of their benchmarking pay rises next month.
The payment to teachers, however, could be jeopardised by the row over parent-teacher meetings in spite of the verification group's decision.
It is understood the secretary general of the Department of Education, Mr John Dennehy, told unions on Monday that he had sent a positive report to the verification group in anticipation of more progress on the meetings issue than was achieved.
The Department wants to see parent-teacher meetings scheduled outside normal teaching times. Ideally it would like such meetings to take place in the evenings to assist working parents.
However, the teaching unions will not accept this. They want the meetings to be held in the afternoons and early evening.
Sustaining Progress and benchmarking gives teachers a cumulative 21 per cent pay increase. Some 10 per cent of this is due to be paid in mid-January.
Talks between the Department and the teaching unions on the issue are set to resume on January 8th. It is expected that the issue may have to be referred to an arbitration group.
Union sources predicted last night that the 10 per cent increase would be made, but one said: "We will have to deliver more on the parent-teacher meeting issue."