‘It’s hard to see your friends move overseas to find work when all they really want to do is stay’
A YOUNG teacher admitted it is very difficult watching her friends lose faith in Ireland’s education system and opt for properly paid jobs overseas.
Claire Ní Chanainn, a secondary teacher in Cork city, said a quirk of fate helped save her €40,000 in pay she would otherwise have lost over the past seven years.
However, she is still down about €12,000 in lost allowance payments before she got her qualifications after the 2011/2012 deadline.
“I did a week or so subbing about six or seven years ago and if I didn’t do that I would be down €40,000 over the past few years,” she said.
“I was very lucky I did that bit of subbing before 2011 because it helped put me on a different (pay) scale.
“I think young teachers are really frustrated.
“They are doing the same work, but they are being paid less for it.
“A lot of my friends have gone abroad to places like Dubai. It is very hard to see your friends not be able to get a job here and go overseas when all they really want is to stay here.”
She has now worked as a teacher for more than six years.
While she was lucky with her pre-2011 subbing work and the fact it put her on a different pay scale, the loss of possible allowance payments is a significant issue.
“I am trying to get a mortgage and it does make a big difference for me.
“But I know it could have been a lot worse, thanks to that subbing work.”
She stressed that, like hundreds of other young Irish teachers, pay equality is now a huge issue.
She said she had worked a second job in a bid to help supplement her teacher income.
“All everyone wants is fair play.”