Teachers will remember ‘guffawing’ at them for a long time – Sinn Féin

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Teachers will remember a crowd at a Fine Gael event “guffawing” at them for a long time, a Sinn Féin candidate has said.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has come under criticism for saying he would not hire teachers to “get things done” at a Fine Gael event at the weekend.

In a clip posted online from the event, where Mr O’Leary endorsed Fine Gael’s Peter Burke in the Longford-Westmeath constituency, people can be heard laughing and cheering in response to his remarks.

Despite party figures distancing themselves from the comments, including Mr Burke, other parties have used this to attack Fine Gael, while the teachers’ unions have expressed anger.

Asked about the comments at a Sinn Féin event held at the Teachers Club in Dublin, Louise O’Reilly, Sinn Féin spokeswoman on workers’ rights, said she was told teachers are “incredibly angry”.

She said: “A senior Fine Gael minister and his party colleagues gathered around, (and) how loud they laughed and giggled and guffawed and sneered at teachers.

“I think (that) will stay with teachers, not just for the next 16 days, but I think for a very, very long time.”

She added: “It’s really tough to be a teacher. My sister is a school principal, and she will tell you this, it’s very hard to recruit teachers.

“Not because they’re not committed – they are.

“Not because they’re not passionate about their job – they are.

“But they can’t afford to live near where there is a need for teachers. So you’re asking teachers to go back and live with their parents.

“People in their 20s and their 30s are having to live with their parents down the country and commute up to work in Dublin because they can’t access affordable housing.

“So whatever about the laughing and the jeering and the sniggering that Fine Gael do when they think nobody is watching, about our civil and public servants, that’s awful, right, and that’s bad.

“But failing to deliver secure, affordable housing and locking out an entire generation of civil and public servants, of hard-working private sector workers, that is unforgivable.”

Sorca Clarke said the “demeaning attitudes” in Fine Gael were “not only shocking and shameless” but comes at a time when teachers and schools are under pressure.

“Schools are reducing the subjects available to the learners because of that teacher shortage,” she said.

Speaking on Newstalk, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who is a former teacher, said on Wednesday that Mr O’Leary “got it wrong”.

“I was just kind of dismayed at this kind of cavalier denigrating of teachers, and it was also just factually wrong,” he said.

“I’ve met many teachers who were great entrepreneurs – that’s what surprised me (about the remarks).

“That’s a complete misnomer. He got it wrong.

“There’s some great teachers who moved on from teaching to become great entrepreneurs.”