Free State to cut national school teachers’ salaries by 10%
Dublin, 31 October 1923 - There is widespread anger in Irish educational circles after it was disclosed that the free State government plans to cut the salaries of national school teachers by 10 per cent.
The reduction, revealed yesterday by the Irish Independent newspaper, is expected to deliver a saving of £335,000 to the government this year. The shock felt within teaching ranks is compounded by the speed with which the measure is being implemented: the cut, it is understood, will come into operation tomorrow - the first day of November. Furthermore, the Minister for Finance, Mr. Ernest Blythe, has indicated that the whole question of teachers’ salaries and the basis on which they are fixed will be subject to review.
National school teachers have struggled for many years to improve their salaries and terms of conditions and currently operate under the terms of an agreement reached in 1920, which fixed their pay and conditions and which was ratified by the Civil Service Arbitration Board. That agreement did not take effect until April 1922, so in effect the teachers have only enjoyed 18 months of what were hard-won gains. These are gains which, as one letter-writer to this morning’s Irish independent put it, served only to raise teachers from a ‘condition of slavery and poverty to one of decency and independence.’
Consequently, it is unlikely that they will meekly submit to Mr. Blythe’s cut. Branch organisations of the INTO are scheduled to hold meetings on November 10, with a special congress already set for November 24.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
