INTO Congress calls for reinstatement of teachers’ allowances

Delegates at the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) Annual Congress in Derry have called on the Government to reinstate various allowances which have been out of bounds for primary teachers since February 2012.

Access to various allowances has been denied to thousands of so-called ‘new beneficiaries’ for over twelve years leading to the situation that teachers who held these allowances before 2012 lost them when voluntarily moving to other schools, even schools in similar settings. As a result, many teachers have been unwilling to seek promotion or to move school as they would suffer pay cuts. Despite record corporate and income tax revenue in recent years, the government has not seen fit to restore these allowances.

These restored allowances would apply to teachers who have earned a Doctorate, Master’s Degree and/or a Diploma in Special Education as well as allowances as well as those who teach through Irish, work in a Gaeltacht or on an island school. The INTO also wishes to see the reinstatement of allowances to principals who act as secretaries of boards of management.

Members have also asked the INTO to campaign for the incorporation of the Honours Degree Allowance to salaries of all pre 2011 entrants to match the situation that pertains for those who entered the profession since 1 January 2011.

As part of the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, the INTO will be able to pursue local bargaining measures as part of a €100 million fund, of which €33 million accrues from 1 September 2025. The INTO plans to consult with members in the coming months to ascertain which union claims they wish to see the INTO submitting next July, so that these priorities are advanced by the start of the 2025/26 school year.

The resolution adopted at INTO congress today empowers the union to work towards the reinstatement of teaching allowances within the local bargaining system in the new Public Service Agreement.