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IT Tralee lecturers and staff on the picket line at the South Campus. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
CLASSES faced disruption today at IT Tralee because of a nationwide strike by lecturers and researchers in opposition to government cuts.
The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) feel they have been forced to strike because of austerity measures imposed by the Department of Education over the last number of years.
Traleetoday.ie spoke to IT Tralee – TUI Branch Secretary, Anne Marie Courtney on the picket line about how cuts have effected the college.
Ms Courtney told us that, along with a drop in the amount of lecturers teaching in both campuses, she thinks the facilities themselves are beginning to feel the effect of cuts.
“Our budget (IT Tralee) going back a number of years ago was €30 million, it’s now down to €15 million. So, these are pretty dramatic budget cuts for us.”
“What we’ve seen as well is, we’ve lost a lot of members due to retirement. The result is, much bigger class sizes. We all prided ourselves on having contact with our students but class sizes are getting bigger and bigger because there is less of us to go around,” she added.
“We see problems on the ground as well with our part-time lecturers getting as low as three hours a week. A person can’t sustain themselves on a three hour a week contract, that’s akin to a zero hours contract.”
“The place [south campus] is also looking worse for wear and not being refurbished. Just an awful lot of decay in the place,” said Ms Courtney.
Plans are in place for a merge of Cork IT and IT Tralee to form a Technological University. The merger has met opposition in some quarters not least from TUI members.
“It’s a completely separate issue to what’s happening today. But there seems to be this notion that you can just put a sign over the door that says ‘technological university’ and all will be well in the world. Basically the HEA (Higher Education Authority) are expecting this merger to go ahead on a shoestring. We have so many infrastructural problems that need to be addressed before you go forward into a technological university,” said Ms Courtney.
IT Tralee lecturers and staff on the picket line at the South Campus. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
