On December 11, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe launched the 2009 edition of the IPA Yearbook & Diary in the Merrion Hotel, Dublin 2.

While certain politicians watched football in Old Trafford, some 60,000 campaigners staged the biggest education protest in the history of the state.

6,000 teachers, parents and pupils marched through Donegal town on 29 November to protest against the “draconian measures” planned for schools.

The INTO protest in Galway - the first of a nationwide series - was fired by an indignation that was impervious to the driving rain and gusting wind.

Speech by ASTI general secretary John White at the ASTI Education Conference held in the Grersham Hotel Dublin on 8 November 2008

Speech by Pat Hurley, president of ASTI, in which he decries the recent Budget as nothing more than a “list of cuts” and an attack on education.

Fine Gael Education spokesman Brian Hayes outlined 32 cuts in education not mentioned by Minister Brian Lenihan in his budget speech.

University heads are opposed to the return of the old fees regime, abolished in 1995, but favour the introduction of Australian-style student loans.

TUI gerneral secretary, Peter MacMenamin, is determined to persuade that education spending is the springboard for economic and social progress.

“Benchmarking is a failed process… Trade unions have been out-manoeuvred by Government and employers. We need to learn from our failures.”

“It is frequently said of our society that we are asset rich but time poor. Whatever about asset rich, most teachers and lecturers are time poor.”

“The economy is changing, moving up the value chain away from traditional manufacturing and towards more knowledge-intensive employment.”

Reports indicate that, while other teacher unions were warning of industrial action, the ASTI was holding fire at this year’s annual convention.

Speaking in the Malton Hotel, Killarney, on 25 March 2008, Minister Mary Hanafin told her audience that teacher quality is the most important factor.

“We need a Minister who will step up to the mark and bring about necessary change in priority funding. Minister, I believe you have that courage.”

“When we celebrate next year the centenary of the founding of the ASTI, we can be proud that we, as teachers, have delivered a quality education.”

“I have visited 400 schools and have seen how teachers shape the skills, life chances and values of young people. No other profession has as much impact.”

Speech by John Carr, General Secretary INTO, in response to Minister Mary Hanafin, at Annual Congress 2008 in Hotel Kilkenny on 25 March.

“I believe that the classroom teacher, who is the foundation stone of the primary education system, is being left behind in the education debate.”

A British teachers’ union warns about the numbers of ’spoilt’ children who misbehave in class because they are used to doing only what they want.