Change to vaccine rollout schedule not a value judgment on teachers - Foley
The INTO, ASTI, and TUI have agreed to put forward a shared emergency motion, however, the exact wording will not be available until tomorrow.
The three teaching unions are due to bring a shared, emergency motion to delegates tomorrow, demanding vaccine prioritisation for teachers.
Tue, 06 Apr, 2021 - 15:21
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One day should be put aside over the coming months to vaccinate special education staff the General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Radio One’s Morning Ireland, John Boyle said that teachers working in special schools should be given top priority in particular.
“The letter that was issued to schools - it said very, very clearly - that within the education cohorts, the top priority was going to be given to the workers who work in special schools and special classes,” he said.
“There’s only 8,000-9,000 workers across primary and secondary between SNAs and teachers that work in special education, and the infection levels have been really, really high there compared to other schools.
LMFM By Michael Carolan It comes after the Goverment changed the vaccine roll-out criteria to base the system on age instead of profession.
The Department of Health says it has been notified of 9 additional deaths related to COVID-19 and 443 new cases of the virus.
3 of these deaths occurred in January, 2 in February, 3 in March and 1 in April.
Of the cases notified today:
239 are men / 203 are women
75% are under 45 years of age
The median age is 31 years old
208 in Dublin, 32 in Cork, 24 in Kildare,
20 in Meath, 17 in Donegal and the remaining 142 spread across 19 other counties, including
8 in Louth.
As of 8am today, 261 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 60 are in ICU. 12 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Furious teachers are likely to ballot for industrial action unless the Government reverses the decision to push them down the vaccine list.
Last week’s decision has catapulted vaccinations onto the agendas of the annual conferences of the three teacher unions, which start tomorrow.
It guarantees an angry reception for Education Minister Norma Foley at her first Easter conventions.
Leaders of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), the Association of Secondary Teachers’ Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) are preparing motions for discussion.
The unions may agree a common motion, or they may opt to debate different motions, but ultimately, the conferences are likely to seek support for ballots for some form of industrial action.