Sir, – Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, in recommending the Croke Park extension to Dáil Éireann, deemed it to be “fair and equitable”.
This is most certainly not the case for principals and deputy principals working in second- level schools who have already exponentially increased their productivity and provided significant savings for the Government. The reward is further pay cuts and additional work!
The agreement fails to acknowledge the crucial and central leadership role that principals and deputy principals have played in supporting and maintaining the education system in a time of austerity and severe cutbacks.
There is no recognition for the delivery of new initiatives and programmes, or for the management of reduced staffing allocations within schools. There is no recognition of the additional responsibilities taken on by principals and deputy principals due to the decimation of the middle-management structure. There is no recognition for the increased workload and additional legal responsibilities associated with working outside agencies. There is no recognition for the increasing need to attend meetings and presentations outside of school hours. There is no recognition of the increasing demands associated with building works and general repairs. There is no recognition of the need to work and attend in-service on Saturdays or to attend section 29 appeals, HSE case conferences and court cases (often during holiday periods). There is no recognition of the requirement to monitor student teachers and to manage the raft of changes to employment and safety legislation!
The Government has emptied the well of goodwill and there is no more to give. Croke Park II seeks too much in terms of workload and pay cuts. It is time to call a halt! – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It would be difficult to imagine a more petulant reaction to the walkout by the Garda Representative Association and some unions from the Croke Park II talks than that of Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar, when he indicated that the unions’ members would thereby forego any possibly concessions such as those granted to prison officers and fire-fighters.
Surely a legitimate administration does the right thing by State employees because it is the right thing to do and not because the representatives of some but by no means all of a particular category withdraw from negotiations upon arriving at what they consider an impasse. — Yours, etc,