Teachers have warned the new Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, they may not co-operate with future changes unless their pay claim is properly addressed.
The president of the TUI, Mr John McGabhann, welcomed Mr Dempsey's appointment, but said work on the broader educational agenda would be held up unless teachers' pay was substantially increased.
He said the benchmarking body, expected to report within weeks, would hopefully reward teachers and allow them to work in a spirit of partnership with Mr Dempsey.
Failure to address the pay issue would just create a further obstacle in trying to deal with a range of issues currently impacting on the education system, he said. The TUI is hoping to meet the new Minister shortly.
The primary teachers' union, the INTO, meanwhile said it was looking forward to working with the new Minister in a spirit of partnership.
However, it also warned that pay was the major issue for the union. Making sure a significant increase found its way quickly into the pockets of teachers would be the first test for the new Minister, it said.
" We all know that teachers' salaries are depressed. Mr Dempsey will have to ensure that this situation is corrected quickly and that teachers are paid a salary that reflects their contribution to society," said the INTO general secretary, Mr John Carr.
Also high on the primary education agenda was the issue of class size. "At present Irish primary schools have the second-highest pupil-teacher ratios in the developed world," he added.
"The Government's commitment to reduce class sizes for the under-nines to below international best practice size of 20:1 is welcome.
"The major task for Mr Dempsey will be to turn the rhetoric into reality and ensure that our children get the best possible start in school," he said
"The new Minister will also be judged on how educationally disadvantaged children and special needs children are treated by the Department of Education during his term of office.
"The commitments in the agreed programme for Government are welcome, but Mr Dempsey will be judged by how they are translated into real benefits for these children," he added.