Many of the 54 second-level fee-paying schools in the country provide additional qualified teachers, which are over and above the number approved by the department based on pupil-teacher ratio. These extra teachers are paid privately out of school funds.

However, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has been concerned that some non-permanent privately-paid teachers are receiving a rate lower than the department rate.

The recent ASTI survey, conducted among qualified teachers who do not hold permanent positions, showed that 68 per cent of teachers were paid the equivalent of the official rate for all hours worked. Of those who were underpaid, most stated that two-thirds of their hours were at the official rate and the remainder at a slightly lower rate.

One respondent had complained to the management of the fee-paying school and had been told that the school could not afford the correct rate. Another commented: "I am being paid 90 per cent of what I should receive, just like all privately paid staff in the school."

ASTI general secretary John White said that since teachers who are privately paid by a school are invariably working in a part-time or non-permanent capacity, "the ASTI's view is that any school which pays less than the rate paid by the Department of Education and Science is acting in breach of part-time or fixed term legislation".

He said that all of the cases of underpayment which had been brought to the ASTI's attention had been in fee-paying schools. When representations on behalf of teachers who were being underpaid were made by the union, the school had agreed to pay the correct rate, he said. (Source: Irish Independent)