Concerned parents protested on the streets of Portlaoise yesterday to demand a quick resolution of the ASTI dispute, which had forced the closure of over 100 schools across Leinster.
Mr Bill Kelly, chairman of the parents' council at St Mary's CBS, said 30 members agreed to the protest march in an effort "to get a speedy resolution to the strike and to get our pupils back to school".
"We are fearful that it may be ongoing. It is very unfair to the exam students. They are at a fierce disadvantage," he said.
Mr Kelly, however, stressed the march was not organised in opposition to the ASTI action.
"We are not in conflict with them. We are maybe trying to strengthen their case to have something done to sort it out," he said.
Parents' councils of the Mercy School, Ballymahon, Co Longford, and the Sacred Heart Secondary School, Tullamore, Co Offaly, are hosting public meetings in the coming days to discuss the dispute.
Yesterday's pickets were confined to Leinster schools outside Dublin. Striking teachers in Drogheda claimed to have received public support.
"There's been no aggro but plenty of friendly beeps from motorists," said one teacher outside the Grammar School on the Mornington road.
"The parents are fully in support of everything we do," said another teacher at Our Lady's College, Greenhills.
Claims of a split within the union were discounted by the six teachers outside St Joseph's, Newfoundwell. "Maybe there is a split between the Department of Education, which wants to pay the docked pay, and the Department of Finance which doesn't," remarked one.
The dispute also received widespread support in Carlow.
Claims made by the Taoiseach earlier this week of an internal conflict within the ASTI have strengthened the resolve among Carlow's teachers. "Bertie Ahern's comments have helped to galvanise even more support from the public," said Mr John Glynn, a teacher at St Leo's College, Carlow.
"He would have been better off commenting on the Liam Lawlor affair than on the ASTI His comments were simply a diversionary tactic."
"There is certainly no evidence of any weakening," said Mr Sean Moloney of CBS, Carlow, a member of the national central executive committee of ASTI.
"Bertie Ahern's comments have been the best thing ever, they've strengthened the commitment among members and enhanced public support," he added.