Do teachers support a ‘Dublin allowance’ for colleagues facing higher costs?

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has backed calls for an extra payment to members in Dublin and other urban areas to compensate them for facing higher living costs.

This type of additional payment has traditionally been resisted by trade unions, who had been unwilling to draw a geographic distinction between their members and because of the practical challenges of implementing any such decision.

We asked delegates at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) conferences if they agreed with the idea ...

Michael McCarthy, TUI member, Navan:

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“I’d be in favour of it, except that it would nearly be impossible to police. Imagine you’re working in Dublin but you’re commuting from Westmeath, where you’re living at home. You could have a colleague living next door who is doing the same job and has the same expenses but you’ll be paid more. That would create friction between colleagues and that is exactly the situation we’ve had for 10 years with pay inequality. Also, it’s been done in the UK for years. They’ve tried to try to do it with a ‘London allowance’ and they’ve realised that it hasn’t solved the problem it was meant to solve.”

Ailbe Dunne, TUI member, south Tipperary:

“I think it’s certainly something to consider, I don’t know how teachers survive living in Dublin as things stand. People are leaving in droves and you can’t hope to get the best people if they can’t afford to live there. Teachers can always redeploy to Dublin if they want to because there are so many vacancies there, but the reality is they are trying to get out. I can see the argument, though, that it could end up being divisive. The cost of living is creeping up for everyone, you feel it increasing by stealth. My mortgage is standard and I don’t have kids but I know people who are really struggling outside of Dublin too.”

Anthony Dowling, TUI member, Dublin:

“I think, on the face of it, it’s a positive thing but when you start digging down into it there are issues with whether it can work and how divisive it might end up being. I teach in Clondalkin and have worked with people who have left full-time jobs in Dublin and moved back to Cavan, Leitrim and so on; going back to jobs with half the hours because they find it easier to live on that than being full-time in Dublin and paying rent. I have a sister who’s going over to over to Abu Dhabi, she’s a primary schoolteacher and she is leaving because she can earn serious money over there. It’s very attractive to young people because they can have a social life, some money to actually spend on enjoying themselves. We can’t really offer that at the moment but I think there are better ways of addressing the issue, like building houses and increasing pay for all teachers.”

Gloria Helen, ASTI member from Cork

“We do need to make some sort of move to help people who are struggling. I think we have to acknowledge that Dublin is a more expensive area, and while the cost of living needs to be dealt with, we should do what we can in the interim.”

Mark Forde, ASTI member living in Dublin

“I think it is a good idea. I taught in London for a year and it was part of our allowance. Rents and the cost of living are higher in London and, although it wasn’t a huge amount, every little did help. In Dublin, as a renter, you are always at the mercy of landlords and rising costs. I am originally from Mayo, teaching in Dublin, and my mother who has been teaching for almost 40 years probably wouldn’t see a problem with it, as she knows how expensive it is.”

Richard Bell, ASTI member from Galway

“For teacher retention, all ideas should be on the table, and a weighted allowance needs to be questioned. But I would not like to make a snap decision as it could be divisive. We have just gotten through a problem in teaching where some were paid less for the same work – and do we really want to go back into it again? We have to be careful here. But we do need to address it, as we have teachers in the car for two hours a day getting to work and two hours getting home. Because of cost, some teachers won’t teach in Dublin which has led to subject shortages. I live on the outskirts of Galway, so it is manageable, but I have huge sympathy for my colleagues in Dublin. Perhaps the solution is to pay teachers properly in the first place, and value their jobs and what they do.”