Surplus primary teachers in Northern Ireland should be offered jobs in the Republic, the INTO general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, said yesterday. Mr O'Toole said an estimated 200 primary teachers would be made redundant in the North in the next few months as a result of declining numbers and the need for schools to balance budgets.
"The government in the North has a surplus of teachers and the Government in the South has a shortage. Why can't somebody in authority in both governments take the initiative and break down the barriers?" asked Mr O'Toole.
The union's Northern secretary, Mr Frank Bunting, pointing out that the INTO had 5,500 members in both primary and secondary schools in Northern Ireland, said there was "a lot of interest" among Northern-trained teachers about working in the Republic.
On the barrier of the compulsory Irish-language qualification for teachers in the Republic, Mr Bunting said that at present Northern teachers had up to two years to pass the language test. During this period they were paid at the lower rate of £12,500 per year.
Mr Des Rainey from Derry said there were 2,500 INTO members in secondary schools in the North who might wish to teach south of the Border but found the Irish-language test an impediment.
On Wednesday the INTO passed a motion allowing for the scrapping of the compulsory Irish-language test as a requirement to teach in primary schools in the Republic. Mr O'Toole said the union would co-operate with the Minister for Education in finding alternative ways of ensuring that every child was taught Irish, other than making every teacher take a compulsory Irish test. Conradh na Gaeilge criticised the INTO's move, saying it "would undermine the basic and sound integrated nature of the current primary school curriculum."
Gaelscoileanna, the co-ordinating body for Irish-language schools, said the INTO motion on relaxing the compulsory Irish-language qualification for teachers in the Republic would, if implemented, deprive children of their right to be taught Irish.