Don Ryan slams the government and Coughlan at TUI Conference

Coughlan greeted with stony silence

The TUI voted unanimously yesterday to reject the Croke Park pay deal. This morning Mary Coughlan gave a speech at the union's annual conference during which she made no reference to yesterday's vote nor did she take any questions from the floor. When she finished, a union member at the front bobbed up beside her wearing a Sean Fitzpatrick face-mask. Members treated her to total silence both before and after her speech. In contrast Ryan was greeted with constant rounds of applause and standing ovations throughout his speech.

Points from Don Ryans speech:

He lambasted employers who he said are making rogue decisions about contracts of employment against European and Irish law while the government stands idly by.

He pointed to other European countries where 90% of teachers have permanent contracts and Denmark in particular where 97% are on full time permanent contracts. In contrast Ireland is the worst country in the EU with just 67% of teachers on permanent contracts.

He pointed out that there is no dedicated further education section and strategy at the Department of Education.

When he had finished talking about education he then addressed Coughlan in her role as Tanaiste. He said:

"The problems of the country are totally the fault of the government. None of you has had the decency to admit your huge mistakes.'

He spoke of the 'educational treason' the government were now comitting.

In the contexty of all of this, talk of a smart economy was nothing more than rhetoric which sounded stupid, he said.

Ryan spoke of 'the unscrupulous characters your government has given refuge to' adding that 'not one civilised country would tolerate this'.

Ryan said we needed 'an education system where each learner has equal chances and one which eliminates cronyism and elitism.'

He said we need to stop carving up the education system and that 'we are not going to allow any futher imposition son teachers and lecturers.'