Teachers once more picketed outside Leinster House today. They may have been small in number but their frustration at the current impasse with the Government over their pay claim was obvious.
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Teachers stage picket outside Leinster House
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About ten teachers from the Dublin south-west branch of the ASTI gathered outside the Dáil today in support of the one-day nationwide strike by the union.
Most of them were parents and all were angry that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has declined to talk directly to the ASTI.
The Government maintains the union’s claim should be dealt with by the benchmarking body - as recommended by the Labour Court last week - and it has criticised the union for not balloting its 17,000 members on the Labour Court recommendation.
"The Taoiseach was able to intervene very quickly to arrange for a second Slane concert for Bono, yet he cannot meet teachers," said Ms Marie Doyle.
"I love being a teacher but I would like to be valued and respected and paid properly," she said.
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Another teacher said she was considering giving up teaching in Dublin because she felt she could not survive on her wages and pay rent. "I spent a year trying to get a house but I just cannot afford it," she said.
Others pointed to the prompt meeting with taxi drivers in their dispute after a series of pickets around Dublin city.
"As a parent of a Leaving Cert student I am concerned. I want my daughter back in school to sit credible exams," said Ms Phil Roberts, an incoming member of the union’s Central Executive Committee.
The teachers maintained it was the Government not the union who was holding children to ransom - a claim leveled at the union over the last few months.
ASTI standing committee member Mr Pat Cahill said the ASTI had pulled back last year to cater for exams. "It is the Government’s decision. We gave them a year to consider this and they made the decision not to support our claim," he said.
There was anger too that the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, flew to Malaysia yesterday. He is representing the Government at the St Patrick’s Day celebrations there.