THE general secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, Mr Jim Dorney, has warned that there are still significant obstacles to reaching agreement with the Government on a new pay deal.
He was responding yesterday to reports that a major breakthrough in talks had been achieved with the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland.
The TUI represents over 9,000 teachers, mainly in vocational schools, while the ASTI has over 15,000 in the rest of the secondary sector.
The TUI executive is meeting next Friday and Mr Dorney said it would be important to have progress to report if the dispute was to be resolved in the near future.
The union is particularly unhappy with early retirement proposals and new procedures to deal with promotions.
Meanwhile, the ASTI issued a statement yesterday expressing concern at proposals to exclude religious schools from new equality legislation. The Employment Equality Bill allows discriminatory practices in religious, medical or educational institutions, where it is essential for the maintenance of the religious ethos of the institution concerned, "or is reasonable in order to avoid offending the religious sensitivities of its members or clients".