"Every teacher in every staffroom has nothing else on their mind only the pension levy."
– Lily Cronin, ASTI Kerry
“A science-based economy is the only way out of recession, but I can see physics and chemistry being dropped in schools right across the country.”
– Lily Cronin
“I teach in a non-fee paying girls’ school in south Dublin. We are surrounded by fee-paying schools. Our intake is across all social classes. During the Celtic Tiger. we struggled to keep numbers up and our resources were stretched. Today, we have become very popular. Our classes are bursting at the seams.”
– Rosabelle Crompton, ASTI Stillorgan
“Batt O’Keeffe is a disgrace to education. Donncha O’Malley was a good minister and others since. This man is not. It’s not about what’s right wing or left wing, it’s about what’s right and what’s wrong.”
– Gerry Breslin, Asti Sligo
“The land of saints and scholars is now sacrificing its scholars for its sinners.”
– John Carr, general secretary INTO
“Where once young children paid to see a cowboy film, now they pay for the cowboys.”
– John Carr again
“ Like Michael O’Leary’s airports, Ireland’s class sizes are miles away from where they should be.”
– John Carr
“Bullies attack the weak.”
– INTO placard raised during Batt O’Keeffe’s speech
“Why would the Celtic Tiger want to visit schools when it was more interested in hanging out with people who were buying helipads rather than writing pads?”
– Bernie Ruane, TUI vice president
“We are the generators of the current prosperity, yet the scoundrels who wrecked things are being bailed out while we are taking the hits, the students are taking the hits, the kids are taking the hits.
– Paddy Healy, TUI past president
We shouldn’t be even discussing cutbacks – the 400 wealthiest people in Ireland have €41 billion. Why isn’t that money being taken to pay for the balance of the public services? They can pass a bill through parliament to take money off us, why don’t they pass a bill to take some of that money ?”
– Finbarr Geaney, TUI Dublin city