TIM NELLIGAN,
Sir, - As a teacher in my early thirties with two young children, it gives me no pleasure to see that the ASTI was correct about benchmarking. It is becoming increasingly clear that whatever this body was set up to do, delivering for teachers is not it. The increase will not bridge the pay gap between teachers and other post-graduate workers, so the recruitment and retention crisis will continue.
Inflation in the price of groceries, especially vegetables, is running at 14 per cent since we adopted the euro. This effectively wipes out the increase before it is even granted. Therefore, in terms of purchasing power, the position of teachers after benchmarking will be no different that it was over three years ago when, in 1999, the three teachers' unions voted to pursue a joint pay increase strategy.
All of the promises of Senator Joe O'Toole have amounted to nothing in real terms. He, however, received a very real 31 per cent pay increase nearly two years ago. He has enjoyed the extra spending power of this money for some time, while exhorting his former INTO members to await the great payout of the benchmarking body. Now we see that they will have nothing to enjoy as a result. Bernadine O'Sullivan is right; Joe O'Toole is wrong.
Yours, etc.,
TIM NELLIGAN,
Rose Hill,
Wicklow.