Madam, - The following letter by me was published in your paper on September 27th :
"Sean Flynn states (The Irish Times, September 26th): 'former President Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan took the union out of ICTU and made a claim for 30 per cent pay increase in 2000'. I did not take the ASTI out of ICTU. It was done by a democratic decision of the central executive council and I as president was bound by that decision as were all the officers and officials of the ASTI. This decision remains until a contrary motion is proposed and adopted which has not happened up to the present time, irrespective of how educational editors or others may feel about the matter.
"The claim for 30 per cent was proposed by two members of the central executive council, one a former president, who increased the demand from the original claim of 20 per cent, which I had been on the record as endorsing. Like the decision taken in regard to the ICTU this then became association policy and I was duty bound to seek its full implementation. - Yours, etc., Bernadine O Sullivan."
Despite the above, Sean Flynn again writes on November 27th: "With support from the grassroots, Ms O'Sullivan managed to defy Mr Lennon by taking the ASTI out of the ICTU. Against his wishes, she also led a campaign for a 30 per cent pay increase which led to the closure of schools two years ago."
To what purpose does Mr Flynn persistently and erroneously personalise decisions taken by the democratically elected bodies of the ASTI? Rather than defying Mr Lennon and going against his wishes, I agreed to a request conveyed through him to meet with the then general secretary of the ICTU. This was in the week following the decision taken by our standing committee to propose a motion to CEC that the ASTI leave Congress.
I met the general secretary of the ICTU in the hope that assurances could be given to the ASTI on the issues which gave rise to that decision. In an effort to address issues of concern, I facilitated attendance by the general secretary of ICTU at a standing committee meeting prior to the meeting of the central executive committee of the ASTI. No assurances were given and the motion to CEC proceeded.
The heading of Mr Flynn's article of November 27th, "Lennon seen as fall guy for ASTI's failed campaign", is at odds with Mr Flynn's assertion of the same date on Morning Ireland that "they [the ASTI\] shaped the agenda for the generous agreements that we saw, particularly from benchmarking. They [teachers\] got at least part of this money because, if you like, they cut up rough. The irony, of course, was that the ASTI got very little credit for that."
Quite! - Yours, etc.,
BERNADINE O 'SULLIVAN, Fortfield Road, Dublin 6W.