Sir, - While it is nice to have an extra day off every week, this dispute is having a terrible effect on students who are currently preparing to sit their Leaving Certificate or Junior Certificate next June.
As it happens, I am preparing to sit my Leaving Cert more than a year from now. I attend a school of the highest standard and my teachers therefore do their utmost to catch up on what is missed. I dread the thought that jealousy from one profession towards another with regard to money could affect my education and hinder my ability to be as successful as possible in life.
I feel the Government should give the teachers what they want. Why should one person go through college and earn less than half the wage of another person who spent just as long as they did in college? How the Government can possibly refuse to give teachers money, especially with the huge surplus it has, is quite difficult to understand.
I strongly urge the Minister for Education to co-operate with the teachers and desist from having what I believe to be an obscenely adverse effect on my education and that of my fellow students. - Yours, etc.,
Diarmuid Lawlor, Kilsallaghan, Co Dublin.