Teachers in primary and secondary schools have been warned that they could see their salaries slashed.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has reiterated the prospect of cutting wages in the education system in order to make significant savings.

He stated that unless the Croke Park Agreement is able to deliver tangible results, teachers could face salary reductions and redundancies.

The deal originally stipulated that these would not be implemented until 2014, but the Irish Times reported Mr Quinn as saying: "The country is in a very difficult state and we are not in control of our sovereignty."

He added that only by meeting targets can salaries be protected but according to the Department of Finance, 39 million euros have been saved from the nine billion euro education budget under the agreement so far.

This comes after Pat Goff, president of the Irish Primary Principals Network, told the newspaper that the capping of special needs assistants in schools in an attempt to save money could have an impact on whether a facility takes in a child with a disability.

Written by Donal Walsh 

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