Protests by secondary students in Dublin, Bray, Sligo and Dundalk resulted in serious breaches of public order and several arrests yesterday, as talks to resolve the ASTI dispute continued in the Labour Court.
At Tallaght in Dublin, teachers' cars were damaged by flying stones at Jobstown community school. Stones and other missiles were fired at cars outside this and the other main community school in the area, Killinarden, the Garda said.
Between 40 and 60 students gathered outside each of the schools, according to Sgt John Cribben: "From lunch-time to closing time, around 3.30 p.m., there was some disorderly behaviour - throwing stones at cars going in and out. There was damage to two teachers' cars at Jobstown. Two were arrested at Killinarden for throwing stones at buses."
Teachers called for a Garda presence when leaving school, he said. There was no problem, however, while the gardai were present. At Leinster House, 10 students were arrested and taken to Pearse Street Garda station.
They were released later into the custody of their parents.
A Garda spokesman at Pearse Street said most cases would be treated under the Juvenile Detention Liaison Order, under which the offender incurs no criminal record if there are no further breaches of the law for 12 months.
"It was clear that a small element of the crowd was determined to cause as much hassle as possible," the garda said. This group had "hijacked" the protest outside Leinster House.
For many of the youngsters the protest represented a degree of excitement and an element of "genuine frustration", the Garda spokesman added.
In Blanchardstown, two Garda cars were damaged when missiles were thrown during protests by about 200 students from Blakestown community school.
In Bray, eggs and flour were thrown when five schools joined in a march down the main street, "causing danger to traffic," the Garda said, and five were arrested. But most of the protesters were well-behaved.