INTO President's Address to Congress 2009 13/04/09

Press Statement by Declan Kelleher, INTO President

Speech to INTO Annual Congress, Letterkenny
Monday 13th April 2009
 
According to INTO President Declan Kelleher, primary teachers are paying between ten and fourteen percent of salary towards economic recovery. He said principal teachers were making an additional contribution because of the non-payment of a benchmarking award promised in December 2007.

“In the meantime tax exiles, tax shelterers, property tycoons and the wealthy are walking off scot free from their obligations because they are the friends of this government that simply doesn’t have the courage to take them on,” he said.

The INTO President said PAYE workers had always been the soft option for revenue collection.

“Of courses taxes had to be raised,” he said. “Nobody disputes that.” He said the government had allowed public services to be run on windfall taxation for years and that was never going to be sustainable. But he said government blinded itself to this reality for years before “pouncing on the public service.”

He also predicted that government would also reap the reward for it in the next general election which he said would come sooner rather than later.
“I believe that its time that we actively sought to bring about a government in this country that is led by the left and that is not overly influenced by fly by night property tycoons, speculators, big builders and the interests of big business and tax exiles. They have had an open door with government for far too long.”

Mr Kelleher said the level of cutbacks in primary education was totally disproportionate to other sectors of the public service due to the predicted increase in pupil numbers. He said the union would continue its battle of opposition against them.

He told the union’s annual congress that the primary curriculum was “close to being abandoned” as he said it simply could not be taught in overcrowded classes.

“You simply cannot implement a child centred, highly individualised and group focused curriculum where you have grossly overcrowded classrooms,” said Mr Kelleher. “Many schools will now have to revert to the 1980s and early 1990s where teachers taught whole classes using blackboard and chalk.

ENDS