Kilkenny school principal says strike action by teachers is still on the cards

A local principal says strike action by teachers is still very much on the cards if the government doesn’t agree to end pay discrimination.

That’s despite the Education Minister promising to look at the issue once the 2020 public sector pay agreement runs out.

Local INTO representative Joe McKeown, who’s principal of St Patrick’s De La Salle in Kilkenny, says the two-tier pay system is one of the reasons schools are finding it so difficult to find substitute teachers.

He’s told KCLR News he’s never seen the situation as bad as it is now and says there’s no doubt in his mind that we are close to a stage where schools may have to send pupils home because there are no teachers available to teach in their classes on certain days.