As the number of full time students in Ireland reaches the million mark for the first time in the history of the State, new teaching positions come on stream.

An increasing number of primary school principals are retiring early due to the growing administrative burden and lack of middle management structure.

INTO president Máire Ní Chuinneagáin warned delegates that “economic colonialism may be more difficult to overthrow than political and military colonialism”.

Minister Coughlan told delegates at the INTO conference that we are not “out of the woods”, we have “more to do to stabilise our public finances”.

“You gave me the extraordinary honour and immense privilege of leading the INTO as general secretary for the last decade… I will be supporting you from the stands.”

The Annual Delegate Conference of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) was held in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin, on April 24.

Addressing the IFUT conference, Mike Jennings spoke of the anger and shame of Irish people, and the sense of belittlement of public sector workers.

“IFUT advises members not to co-operate with work load management or full economic costing [FEC] models that are not negotiated and agreed with the union.”

Kieran Mulvey, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, was the first general secretary of IFUT - appointed almost 35 years ago at the age of 24.

In a first for Offaly, the coveted position of Vice President of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has been won by Denis Magner, Tullamore College.

Talks are taking place between the Departments of Education and Finance, in an effort to pre-empt an “inoperable” situation in schools in September.

Two teacher unions have directed members to refuse from March 8 to carry out duties of vacated middle-management posts that have not been filled.

Approval has been given for new Catholic schools in Drogheda and Galway under the patronage of Cardinal Sean Brady and Bishop Martin Drennan.

John White, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), is to retire in Sept 2010 after six years as head of the union.

The presidents and general secretaries of the the four education unions - ASTI, IFUT, INTO and TUI - issued a joint statement on January 25:

While union leaders still insist that all options for industrial action are on the table, there seems to be no real appetite for all-out strikes.

In a statement issued today, INTO president Maire Ni Chuinneagain said schools should not allow children to be exploited by commercial companies.

The assessment process for new buildings would seem to be designed to keep schools on a waiting list for as long as possible, says INTO.

Addressing a public sector protest on December 12, Sheila Nunan told hundreds gathered outside Leinster House that social partnership was dead.

The student maintenance grant has been reduced by 5 percent, while those on Back to Education Allowance will no longer qualify for maintenance grant.