The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, appealed to ASTI delegates to re-enter talks, telling a heckling, unruly audience that it was "far better to work together".
If they didn't engage, the outcome would be decided in any event. He was older than a lot of people in the hall and he had seen that division had not done any good in the past.
Dr Woods announced that he was setting up a Commission on Education and Learning to be chaired by Prof Dervilla Donnelly. The ASTI would be invited to participate. Continued co-operation "rather than unproductive divisiveness" would best serve future needs and those of children.
The only time Dr Woods received loud applause was when he said he fully accepted ASTI's right to stay out of the PPF. Cheers interrupted him before he went on to say he would prefer to see it lend its full weight to current negotiations. This prompted jeers and calls for order from the chair.
As he spoke, delegates held posters and placards saying "No to benchmarking" and "No to Nice, No to the referendum, do you want another No". Some wore T-shirts depicting a caricature of the INTO's Joe O'Toole at a closed ATM machine.
Trying to speak above shouts, Dr Woods said: "My own view is that the present difficulties have arisen because ASTI decided to reject the outcomes of the processes which all teacher unions had agreed as being the best model of good industrial relations practice."
He said trade unions had a right to pursue a particular agenda but the Government had obligations in relation to national agreements. It was accepted that agendas of employees and employers differed and for this reason agreed processes and procedures had been put in place to resolve disputes.
The "present difficulty" had arisen because ASTI rejected the outcome of these processes. On the issue of supervision and substitution, the ASTI had refused to use the conciliation and arbitration scheme. The issue of pay was now with the facilitation process.
In response to jeers, Dr Woods said: "If you're not there, you won't know what is happening."
It was regrettable that ASTI had decided not to participate in talks on supervision and substitution which were "genuinely attempting to address the outstanding difficulties".