Mr. John Boyle:

A Chathaoirligh, agus a bhaill den choiste, gabhaim buíochas libh ar son Chumann Múinteoirí Éireann as an gcuireadh labhairt libh inniu. I shortened the written statement I sent to the committee in order to get to the key points.

In recent years, there has been a lot of collaboration between educators North and South. The 2022 report by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, A North-South Comparison Report of Education and Training Systems: Lessons for Policy, highlighted the need for closer co-operation in areas such as early school-leaving, special education, teacher well-being and socioeconomic disadvantage as there are glaring gaps between the approaches taken in the two jurisdictions. The Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South, ScoTENS, has fostered strong links between educators in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Middletown Centre for Autism, which is a North-South initiative, has brought great benefit and the funding associated with successive EU PEACE programmes has also been welcome.

Already this week, two very welcome North-South reports have been launched, one by Roinn An Taoisigh’s shared island unit and the ESRI, Student Mobility in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and another by Ulster University on education and Border communities, North and South. The INTO takes every opportunity to engage with North-South initiatives, which we believe have great potential to improve the education systems on this island. We also work closely with sister unions in the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council, NITC, and the British and Irish Group of Teacher Unions, BIGTU. Regrettably, there has been no common approach to improving the terms and conditions of those who work in the education sectors, North and South. The INTO will continue to advocate for teachers to be given the best opportunities to have a proper work-life balance, so that the children and young people of this island can benefit from having teachers who are highly motivated, energised and satisfied in their workplaces.

We have also successfully campaigned for the rights of our students. In that regard, the ongoing use of academic selection is to the major detriment of social progression through education in Northern Ireland. We urge the committee to share our view on this issue for the sake of future generations of workers who attend Northern Ireland schools. Roinn An Taoisigh should establish a dedicated forum in the shared island unit to discuss education. In the context of constitutional change and a move towards a new Ireland, now is the time to examine the terms and conditions available to education workers and all workers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland so that, when the remaining key objectives of the Good Friday Agreement are being met, workers’ representatives will be strongly positioned to lead the way in proposing new, agreed terms and conditions for workers that fully reflect the needs and wishes of workers, including teachers.

The high-level consultations between education stakeholders in Northern Ireland on nine work streams which are designed to modernise the education system have been worthwhile and when the findings are implemented long-standing issues relating to teacher workload will be addressed. A similar engagement would be worth considering in the Republic of Ireland. As the only all-island teachers’ union, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, INTO, is acutely aware of the differences in conditions of service for teachers across this island. These differences are exemplified by transitions from each level of the education systems; the length of the school year; the expectations on teachers in the North flowing from the Jordanstown Agreement; the accountability agenda; school governance; teachers’ salaries and the length of the salary scales North and South; the different funding models for schools; as well as the approaches to special education and to supporting pupils and students who are impacted by educational disadvantage. While there are many differences highlighted here, one common factor between both jurisdictions is the level of workload on school leaders and teachers. This is something that needs to be addressed.

In any new and inclusive shared island all of these issues and more should be harmonised, merging the best of the education systems North and South in order to mould one great system for all who work and learn in our schools. Perhaps a move towards one teaching council for the whole island might be a good starting point. The INTO feels strongly that the movement of teachers pursuing employment on the island should not be restricted and that where opportunities present themselves, fully qualified teachers should be permitted access to jobs in schools on both sides of the Border. We have been engaging with the Teaching Council here to ensure that Northern Ireland registered teachers who apply for registration in the Republic are fast-tracked and pay the same application fee as our teachers registered in the Republic of Ireland. We also support the full registration without conditions of primary teachers who graduate in Northern Ireland with Gaeilge and we have urged the Department of Education to provide free courses for teachers from outside of the Republic of Ireland who are striving to achieve the Irish language requirement. We must ensure we dismantle any barriers that exist for teachers North and South to worthwhile travel and work anywhere on this island. There are many instances of our members working on both sides of the Border - and I am sure the Cathaoirleach is well aware of it from his own constituency - particularly those who chose to do part-time work and those who are working as substitute teachers and have not yet secured permanent or long-terms contracts. However, very few teachers who have permanent contacts cross the Border to work. This matter needs to be addressed urgently. As I said at the Irish Congress of Trade Union executive meeting yesterday, we may have to learn from the report on the students' mobility because if students are not mobile across the Border, when they go into their working lives the tone may already be set. Regrettably, so many more of our teachers are leaving the island to go to the UK and other jurisdictions.

Schools are currently grappling with recruitment and retention crises in both jurisdictions. In order to address these crises, we must make the teaching profession much more attractive on this island. The members of our union are deeply concerned about the number of younger teachers who have felt compelled to leave our shores due to the housing and cost-of-living crises. However, there are other reasons for their exodus, including massive class sizes and limited opportunities for career progression. Those who have been living and working abroad since new teachers’ salaries were slashed in the Republic a decade ago might hope to one day return to Ireland, but they will be pragmatic. They will not abandon leadership or management responsibilities, which they have overseas, or higher salaries and allowances in order to move home. A now 14-year moratorium on promotional posts in the Republic of Ireland schools, along with the gutting of allowances for additional qualifications and specialised work, has eroded vital career pathways in our schools. The restoration of these would incentivise teachers to remain here and act as an inducement for more teachers to return.

This week’s Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report on third level student mobility within Ireland should also be interrogated. It behoves the authorities in both jurisdictions to provide sufficient teacher training places for the requirements of the education systems here, rather than forcing so many aspiring teachers to travel to England, Scotland and Wales to pursue initial teacher education courses.

Following Brexit, opportunities for Northern Ireland teachers’ professional development through various schemes funded by the European Union have been affected, and this includes the opportunities for students, although in terms of Brexit there was no diminution of terms and conditions for teachers within Northern Ireland; neither has there been any improvement. Some notable conditions available to teachers in the Republic include: the right to apply for a contract of indefinite duration from the beginning of the third year in work; the right to be redeployed when a permanent position is suppressed in a school; the building up of supplementary panel rights for teachers who do part-time and substitute work which gives them priority to permanent jobs; and leave and entitlements including breast-feeding breaks, domestic violence leave, which went through the Oireachtas recently, and parental-adoptive leave for same-sex couples. In fact, many of our members would argue that the draconian cuts to the education budget in the North, and the lengthy pay freeze they have been enduring, has seriously eroded their terms and conditions. The stark example of the disparity between Northern Ireland’s teachers' salaries and those in the Republic can be seen in the comparison between the starting salary of €41,385 for a primary teacher in the South and only €28,009 in the North; nearly a 50% difference.

The long absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly has angered our members who have resorted to taking industrial action in pursuit of a fair pay award and in opposition to the cuts imposed on public servants and public services. The British and Irish Governments must intervene quickly to end this impasse. We are also deeply concerned that the consistency and standardisation of individual employment and union rights of our members North and South which emanated from EU directives will not be a feature in the future. Although employment rights in Northern Ireland are devolved, regrettably it has been necessary for us to continuously highlight the failure of the Minister for Education and the Minister for the Economy to improve the employment rights of our members in Northern Ireland. We are determined to ensure improvements to our Republic of Ireland members’ employment rights and rights to representation by their union will be mirrored for our members in Northern Ireland in any new Ireland. We hope that this committee will support that position. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.