The school tie

I’m pleased Ruairi Quinn has announced an audit into fee paying second level schools spending of state cash. I’ve never heard of an audit being ordered into how the states money is being spent in this sector before. As a teacher I welcome the audit so that those of us who teach in the non fee paying sector will be assured that whatever monies there are, are being spent on education and nothing else. Fee paying schools in Ireland mostly draw their pupils from those who are advantaged. Since the demise of religious vocations in teaching orders the fees levied have increased exponentially. Add to that the fact that in some parts of the country wealthy parents who would otherwise have spent money putting their offspring through college will now spend that money on their second level education. This means that fee paying schools are still wells subscribed as one second level principal put it on national radio yesterday. Few of the schools charge less than €5k to attend. Indeed I’ve heard of cases where parents with pupils in school who haven’t paid the fee being taken to court by the school seeking payment.

I’ve long believed that this sector needs to have its state support reduced. I cannot understand why the state pays for either for a principal, deputy principal or career guidance counsellor in these schools. These teachers are not in a classroom. Why should the state pay someone to manage a private institution which is well able to independently provide for itself? In the last few years some of these private schools have been able to find the resources to bring in coaches for school sports teams and IT specialists to train teachers on an ongoing basis.

Private schools don’t get a capitation fee from the government but they can get capital support for extensions and all teachers salaries are paid by the state. In terms of savings its no real ongoing saving to say that you won’t grant aid construction since schools don’t build every year and may not need to build if they are selective enough and maintain numbers at existing levels. The real scope for saving is in terms of money earmarked for salaries. Pupil Teacher Ratio in fee paying schools is significantly less than in the rest of the second level schools. Many fee paying schools can afford to employ extra teachers that give the school an advantage over other non fee-paying schools. Check out some of these schools websites. They point out the advantage of lower class numbers.

There are other issues that are outside the remit of the minister but need to be answered by some of the orders and patrons and it’s this; What are some patrons who see their role as providing for the less well off doing as patrons of schools that are fee paying and catering only for the children of the well off? Ultimaltely these are bigger long term questions that we need to ask if we hope to have a better Ireland into the future.

The result of the audit will hugely influence Ruairi Quinn’s thinking in framing Budget 2013. I await the audit and I hope that Ruairi Quinn publishes the audit so that there will be transparency for all of us who teach to.

FF & Greens threat on union subs is illegal

Those the gods destroy they first make mad. I’m reminded of this wisdom this week when I hear Minister Dempsey responding to the air traffic controllers dispute with a suggestion to ban strike action in essential services. The cabinet’s union bashing continues with suggestions that they will refuse to pass on union deductions from their employees in an attempt to break opposition to pay cuts. This threat should be ignored by public service workers. I say; Bring it on, Let me explain; It’s my view that any such attempt is illegal under data protection law.
It seems that they have learnt nothing in all their years in power other than bullying their workers. About 9 years ago my own union ASTI were locked in a bitter pay dispute with the government, a dispute that we lost and one that I believe our union has yet to fully recover from. Part of our action was to work to rule and not to supervise for absent colleagues. As a result school boards of management closed schools on health and safety grounds although staff were in situ and willing to work. The government moved quickly to withhold 5 days pay from teachers over the Christmas holidays. .

I was particularly annoyed by this move and was one of 42 teachers to take their case to the Data Protection Commissioner in January 2001. I pointed out that my membership of a union is a matter for me and the union concerned. The only reason I had notified the department of my ASTI membership was to facilitate me in paying my union dues, in exactly the same way that VHI, pension, AVC payments etc are processed. I pointed out that the salaries section had no other dealings with me and that if the department had an issue with me that they were obliged to write to me directly asking me if I had been party to a work to rule protest and then following a response taken the action they did


The commissioner investigated my case and found in my favour. The government was obliged to return the deducted pay, not just to me but to every teacher. This 2001 decision is highly relevant to the government’s latest plan.
The Data Commissioner satisfied himself that data relating to my ASTI membership “was obtained by the Department for the sole purpose of deducting ASTI subscription from salary and remitting such deductions to the ASTI and for no other purpose. Using the data for another purpose contravenes section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1988.” Following this decision the Department of Education was warned not to repeat this action as a heavy fine would be imposed.

There are many similarities in what happened to me and what the government is now proposing to do to IMPACT, SIPTU, CPSU members. If what is reported happens, Brian Lenihan will direct officials to assess each employee record, cancel their subscription to the union and presumably return it to their pay packet without written notification from the employee whose money it is in the first place. If they don’t do that they will have to hold on to their employees money against the employees instruction provoking a Fr Ted situation where the money will be resting in their account!
The facility to deduct union membership from salaries was offered to the employee from the state, not from the union. The state pays the union at the direction of the states employee. They cannot unilaterally decide to withdraw that facility without entering into a discussion with its employees. They cannot, to quote the judgement, take information for the purpose of facilitating payment and use it for a political purpose of discommoding a union. Am I the only one who sees this as being a breach of an employee’s confidential data and rights? If you can try this one on with an employee’s union subvention what’s to stop a similar move to thwart payment to a health insurance provider if the government doesn’t like the cut of them too?


Since I started teaching how we were paid has changed enormously. We were told that it was all about the cashless society. The ATM (beloved of those of us who cast a sceptical eye in bench marking) replaced the cheque. But what we’re getting now is the amoral society. One where the Greens and FF will do, as they put it euphemistically, what has to be done to put this country back on its feet. There’s many a public servant who’ll be on their feet soon enough but not in the way that Cowen and company imagine.

FG’s graduate tax will make 3rd level education a luxury

So Fine Gael have got off the fence and lined up with Fianna Fail. To be fair to them they’ve waited a while and while I welcome their 3rd way document as it contains a whole lot more than just funding of third level, graduate charges are what the media have focussed on rightly as it will lob on to those who wish to teach an additional levy on their PRSI. I welcome some aspects of the Fine Gael document but its important to have clear blue water between Labour and FG on the question of funding 3rd level. I always understood that we pay taxes to support education. Fine Gael has rushed into the announcement and had not thought through their policy. I couldn’t believe how complimentary Education Batt O’Keeffe was to FG this morning on radio, if I was an FG’er I’d have cringed! Let’s talk about 2 things I should know something about, science degrees and higher diplomas in education. FG’s plan to make students pay 30% of the cost of their education will see science graduates paying for much longer than graduates in other disciplines like Arts. FG’s proposal means a charge of over €16,000 per per science graduate in real terms, (figures from FG’s document “The 3rd Way” P 6). If this is to be paid off over 4 years, the time period needed to acquire this degree it would mean an additional €4,000 in levies on science graduates. Students wishing to pursue a post graduate course such as Higher Diplomas in Education will face additional costs Science is one discipline that has traditionally, along with arts, drawn under graduates from across the social spectrum. These levies will be presumably on top of other levies already in place because of the economic down turn. Who would want to be a teacher and pay at both ends backwards for your degree and forwards for your pension at extortionate rates? The average starting salary of 3rd level graduates is about €27,000 gross. I’m also worried at the prospect of a brain drain while we’re supposed to be developing a knowledge based and smart economy. FG’s plan is based on the premise that graduates automatically are protected against unemployment. As we know this is not the case at the moment, many graduates are losing their jobs. These charges will lead to a brain drain as graduates move to other countries to avoid paying charges, this at a time when the country needs to foster the knowledge economy. Presumably while at the same time foreign trained graduates would not be liable for the charge. Secondary students will consider leaving the Republic for Wales or Northern Ireland where already colleges have empty places and a student loans scheme where you pay as you earn significantly less than what FF or FG now want to charge. I want to see local graduates get jobs in the future at Coca Cola in Drinagh not pack their bags to work in R&D abroad.I’m also disappointed that Fine Gael are now opposed to the aim of having 72% of our LC students progressing to 3rd level. I am worried at the implications of less student places at third level will have for points as these will inevitably rise. Surely this will put more obstacles in the way of those from disadvantaged backgrounds where there is a poorer emphasis on education as away to self development. Fine Gael’s programme reeks of inequality. It will neither empower nor support a future for our young people. Fine Gael should remember that education based on equal access and universality is the only possible road to prosperity for our country and future generations. At this time we must strengthen participation in education, not force people to opt out. Social investment is imperative in dealing with the current economic crisis and laying the foundation for a decent cohesive society in the future. Do we actually need to rebrand our IT’s as a university or indeed does this just use up some of the €500M that they aim to raise. Has anyone heard of a campaign for university status for Tallaght, Letterkenny or Carlow? This all might sound fine during an election but why pile on extra to the already stretched cost when these colleges have not applied for upgrades to university status and the present universities by their own admission do not have enough money? Back to the drawing boards for FG, Should be plenty for them at NCAD!