Reacting to the warning about a crisis in recruitment and retention in the education sector by the Teacher’s Union of Ireland (TUI) today, People Before Profit TD and education spokesperson, Paul Murphy TD, said that pay increases to at least match inflation are needed to keep workers in the sector.
The TD, who is also a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said that the government now needed to get on the front foot to tackle the crisis in recruitment and retention in the education sector.
He agreed with the TUI’s assessment that the teaching profession in Ireland was an unattractive prospect for many teachers and prospective teachers and the rates of pay were nowhere near what is needed to pay rent and housing costs, as well as inflation and the cost of energy, fuel and food.
He said: “The government is presiding over a situation where workers in the education sector are leaving or are choosing to take up different career paths because the rates of pay and conditions in the education sector are unbearable. People are unable to pay bills for energy, fuel and food and housing costs and rents are skyrocketing to levels that are simply unaffordable for the majority.
“The government now needs to be proactive in order to quell this recruitment and retention crisis. They can do this by giving teachers and workers in the education sector pay increases that, at the very least, match inflation. This should be viewed by the government as an emergency measure to avoid a deepening crisis in the education sector in this country.”