The president of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, Mr Joe Carolan, has said the Minister's delay in meeting the TUI, parent and management bodies in the vocational and community schools sector to discuss teaching cutbacks is "totally unacceptable". He said "drastic" cutbacks had been caused by the appointment of new assistant principals to take up administrative duties.
A spokesman for the Minister, Mr Martin, said additional teaching posts as compensation for the appointment of assistant principals had "never been part of the agreement".
He said there had been no cutbacks in the curriculum resulting from the new administrative procedures, and any VEC was free to apply for additional resources.