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KATIE LYNCH QUALIFIED as a teacher in 2012.
She shares a one-bedroom flat in Dublin that costs €1,500 a month and teaches in a school in Lucan.
Lynch got her undergraduate degree a year prior but stayed on to do a masters degree in the expectation that it would boost her career prospects.
But, because she stayed on that extra year, she’s lost out on around €28,000 because of the way the contracts changed for new teachers to the profession since she qualified.
“I love teaching,” Lynch told TheJournal.ie. “I love the school, I love my job… But when you go to college for years and get the job you want at the end of it, you shouldn’t have to go asking your parents for money to pay for supermarket shopping.”
In a week when all the unions have united behind the teachers in a bid to have the pay of newly qualified teachers restored and put on par with others, some teachers we spoke to said they may have no other choice but to move abroad given the pay they could get elsewhere.
With teachers who began in or before January 2012 and from February 2012 on different pay scales, the unions are pushing the government to eradicate this pay inequality.
The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI), the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish National Teachers’ Association (INTO), have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action if pay inequality is not addressed by next month.
Although cuts made by government have been slowly rolled back on, around 20,000 teachers remain on lower pay scales than their colleagues.
And, for those who’ve been qualified and working as a teacher for a number of years now, it means they have missed out on thousands of euro. With opportunities for better pay and full time hours available abroad, many are considering leaving Ireland.
‘I’ve made the decision. I need to move away’
Katie Lynch told TheJournal.ie that after rent, bills, car and other expenses, her roughly €2,000 a month salary barely leaves her enough to survive.
“My partner is feeling the weight of responsibility when it comes to money,” she said. “I’ve not been able to save. We’re putting off getting a mortgage, having children.
I’m 30 now. It’s coming to a stage where I can’t take it any more. All I want is equal money for equal pay.
Lynch said that she worked in other sectors before becoming a teacher and, while she enjoys teaching the most, she earned more in other jobs.
“I stayed and got a postgraduate degree,” she said. “Under the old system, I would have started on point three of the scale (of pay). But because I qualified in 2012, I started at the bottom.”
With a number of post-2012 qualified teachers in her west Dublin school, Lynch said they have crunched the numbers and have collectively lost out on €300,000 because of pay inequality.
But, with the staff room split between those on the lower pay and those on the other scales, Lynch said that she and her fellow lower-paid colleagues can no longer let the situation continue.
She said: “There’s so many of us now. Back at the start of the decade, class sizes were growing so they had to keep recruiting more of us. Now, we have a huge cohort of public sector workers on lower pay than their peers.”
With the current pay situation and the possibility of more pay elsewhere, Lynch said she has no choice but to consider moving away and working abroad.
“I’m really lucky to be in a supportive school with a supportive principal,” she said. “But if I can’t get a mortgage, can’t plan for a family, it’s not feasible to stay.
Our rent is going to go up again in September. I’m at breaking point trying to pay bills as it is.
Lynch even said that, despite her love for the job, if she’d realised she may have to move away in her 30s to achieve what she wanted, she would have things a lot differently.
She said: “I thought I was putting myself in the best position by doing a masters. I thought it would give me better career progression. If I hadn’t done that, I would have been earning a lot more now.”
“I’d think twice”
Joseph Farrelly also qualified in 2014, and he lives and works in Drogheda.
Similar to other colleagues, he is already down €20,000 on what he would have if the pay scales were aligned.
“I always wanted to be a teacher,” he told TheJournal.ie. “It’s career I absolutely adore. But [if I were to do it all again] I’d have to think twice about it. Maybe I’d go to the Middle East.”
And, similar to the others, Farrelly described the tough situation trying to rent and save, without the possibility of trying to get a mortgage.
“We’re in there with other teachers on the normal pay scales,” he said. “And you feel slightly inferior. Like you’re not as good, even though you might have the same experience.”
Out of his college class of 20, Farrelly is only aware of 2 others working full time in teaching in Ireland.
He said that once you upload your CV onto an English jobs website, for example, you are “hounded by recruiters”.
Farrelly already worked a term in England, himself, but in terms of the community spirit and his interest in GAA, his goal was to always teach in Ireland.
“Leo Varadkar said in the Dáil that people ‘go abroad’ to get the money for a mortgage,” he said. “Hearing something like that is a bit of a kick in the teeth.
I can’t consider getting a mortgage for a long, long time. I wouldn’t dream of going into ask for one now… It’s all about getting that pay equality. With the money I’ve lost out on so far, that would be something towards a deposit for a house.
‘I don’t think there’s any teacher who hasn’t considered moving away’
Tom Dixon graduated in 2014, and is based in Kildare.
Already on a lower pay scale than some colleagues, he was also on just 16 hours for his first while as a teacher.
“I don’t think any teacher is under the illusion that they’ll become millionaires by doing the job,” he told TheJournal.ie.
It’s not about the money as such. It’s the inequality. You’re sharing a staff room with someone on €6k or €7k more than you. They’re fighting for you too because they understand it.
The 28-year-old said he also finds it impossible to try to rent and save, and is back living with his parents.
Like Lynch, Dixon has considered moving abroad to put himself in a better financial position, but has no plans to move right now.
He said: “I don’t think there’s any teacher who hasn’t considered moving away.
You hear stories of Dubai, and of Canada. I know people who’ve left teaching and gone into financial services and other sectors. That’s a thing everyone has to think about.
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Seperate them, allow them to do their own biding and not be controlled by Dublin. Is it that hard to understand?
They wouldn’t last a year without Dublin airport money
Its time to shut down these Taxpayer Moneypit White Elephants.
That mean Spruiker that the rsst of us should drive to Dublin for a flight?
O ‘Leary has repeatedly said drop the tourism tax and he would put aircraft back in cork and Shannon bases. Aer Lingus would also increase their services there. The money is always spent in Dublin, for everything. The west and south of the country is repeatedly neglected for all services. Then Leo acts surprised when they don’t turn a profit. He needs a kick up the hole this guy. Ranting and raving about things that HE should be, and could be, fixing!
I could only give this one thumbs up. Well said.
Boo hoo Dublin gets everything.
would they ever just do and stop talking about it?
Be lazy be happy:)
Shannon is a great airport. Carpark close to the terminal, little or no queues, no BS at security, few if any flight delays etc etc. Very stress free travel, plus the vital link to LHR. It also provide a vital business and air freight link for the west of Ireland. All it needs is to be serviced by a decent bus service from Galway/Limerick that actually COINCIDES with some flight times. Am getting really tired of Varadkar and his little tirades.
I agree, but it also needs planes to land there, I could count the planes that land there each day on one hand. No way on earth it can stay open without the subsidy.
if Shannon was turned into an international cargo hub it would soon become profitable but. the Western politicans are not happy with this as no votes in cargo … politicans and airport’s do not mix . SNN does not have the population to remain as a passenger airport and the idea that it would work if you put on a few extra buses is madness . If Snn became a major cargo hub for Europe it could be a serious jobs provider for the west
No passengers = no delays!
i think ciaro you seem to miss the one major factor in all this…… shannon and cork airport under the control of…. let me type this very slowly for you!…..DUBLIN airport authority….. how can they compete on a level playing field if dublin feathers their nests first and then throw the slops to snn and cork……we have a crazy system where the majority of tourists that come in to the country have to fly to the east cost first before they have to take a bus/train back to the west where the vast majority want to in fact go……
It’s not stress free for the poor unfortunate victims of US torture who passed thru on their way to hell on earth during extraordianry rendition. Or on the way back for US soldiers used as cannon fodder with limbs blown off and PTSD from US occupied countries because the country has lots of oil.
There is a diagnosis for lacking empathy.
Cork Airport is in fact profitable when the debt for the new terminal is taken out of the equation. This debt-free start was promised repeatedly by the previous government until the terminal opened with the airport then being handed the bill.
By that logic, Ireland is in fact profitable when the debt for the failed banks is taken out of the equation………….
not as easy as it sounds cork under the direction of the DAA and local.FF politicans went on a vanity run and spent 100 mill on. a large glass shed that was not needed . Cork airport when it was under the managment the late Barry Roche was the most profiable entity in the Aer Rianta group now due to this 100 mill spend is FU**** with a capital F and will collapse if shoved out on its own .
What needs to happen is for Shannon to become a humanitarian hub–not a US warport. Too bad the motion was shot down by a FF representative at a recent Galway meeting:
“humanitarian hub” give me a break! The fact that is used by the US is about the only thing that is keeping it open! When are people going to get over this neutrality bullshit and realise that Ireland has never been truly neutral and it is only a convenient way for successive Irish governments to avoid having to spend money on defence, that’s why Ireland depends on the RAF to defend it’s airspace and has a Navy that is only capable of being a fishery protection service with the odd bit of drug smuggling detection thrown in. Shannon needs all the help it can get and with the US winding down it’s commitment in both Iraq and Afghanistan those who run Shannon need to be thinking long term and finding new customers to replace the Americans who will eventually stop using it.
Once again Varadkar is talking utter s***e. Cork Airport was shafted and left to pick up the pieces. This situation would not have happened if they weren’t effectively lied to in the past. The Cork Airport management would not have been silly enough to threaten their own airports’ viability.
Smaller airports, such as Knock, Kerry and Waterford get PSO, Public Service Obligation subsidies from the government to help keep rural services afloat since they don’t have the attraction of the capital cities to draw in the tourists. if they withdraw the PSO subsidy, then the very least they need to do is increase public transport services infrastructure at these same locations to help the airports survive by themselves and give themselves a fighting chance to promote their areas. this holds true for cork and Shannon airports as well, since the public transport, at Shannon in particular is appalling ad unreliable.
All taxes should be spent where they are raised. If Kerry airport needs a subsidy let the good people of Kerry cough up.
Well Ciaro, that would be a great idea if it actually worked! Taxes used where they are raised? Your talking about local council taxes here surely? Not overall government taxes? Taxes are unevenly distributed, they always have been. If you disagree, then tell me, where is the tax money for the Luas service in Shannon, in cork, Waterford, knock or Kerry? do you think the good people of Dublin have coughed up and paid for the DART and LUAS ? NO! we all did! Every person paying taxes in Ireland paid for those things no matter where we live! We contribute as a nation, to the nation!
and just in relation to your above comments, ” Boo Hoo, Dublin Gets everything” ? Seriously? Did you feel good constructing such an intellectual sentence ? ok, let us drop down to your level for a moment, so we can converse. Do you know anything about the way this country is Run ? Public service obligations, keeping the nation as a whole running for the overal national health? Although, I guess your comment with Regard to Knock airport getting the money because Enda Kenny is a Mayo man shows how little you know about the system! Do you know how long money has been distributed to knock airport and other rural airports? or did did you actually think that this just started when Enda Kenny was put in Power? Or did you just think that you would get a lot of green thumbs up if you made a negative comment about Enda Kenny?
Why is knock airport getting taxpayers money? Anything to do with the fact that Enda kenny is a mayo man?
I distinctly remember ryanair saying they would buy the old terminal building. Would this not pay off some of that debt?
At the end of the day, all the govt need to keep control of is the actual infrastructure – tarmac and security.
I say, let ryanair have it for a tidy sum and watch it grow into a hub
na leaving it to ryanair would be putting all eggs in the one basket like shannon did,look what happened there,same will happen to knock when ryanair get fussy
Seamus Brennan made a public commitment to extinguish the Cork Airport debt on completion of the new terminal. However when Martin Cullen became Transport Minister he promptly reneged on this commitment, without explanation, and then, coincidently I’m sure, spent the same amount building a fabulous white elephant in his own constituency in Waterford which has been named “The Martin Cullen Bridge”.
The Gombeen of all Gombeens and the taxpayer and traveller will pick up the tab.
Give Shannon back to the people of Clare and Cork back to the Corkonians and watch them turn a profit
Let the DAA sort out the mess in Dublin and we will take care of our own airports
By people of Clare I presume you mean the proposal to have the county council be part of running it? If this happens it will collapse within a year, they dont have the expertise or knowledge to do so, and the councillors would make a complete balls of it interfering.
I’m not ryanairs biggest fan but I would prefer to see shannon run by Michael O Leary than Clare Coco any time!!
Shannons cost base and history of “jobs for the boys” is its single biggest problem, I spent several summers when I was a student working there and some of the wasteful and downright lazy work practices would make any rational person facepalm.
You are aware the building has been lying idle for the past 5 years? Why not at least rent it until it’s demolished in 2017? How is it putting all eggs in a basket to sell/rent an unused decrepit property?
I just dont want to see what happened to shannon happen in cork,i would just be cautious
That’s a bit of an old picture there, Malev went bus remember?
*bust
Karl,
A good few of those Malev’s including the 3 in this picture are still parked up in Shannon
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