This article is from page 7 of the 2014-04-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
NEXT year’s INTO conference is to be held in Ennis, providing an economic boost to the county town.
Held during the Easter holidays every year the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) attracts up to 2,000 people for the three-day conference.
This year West Clare man Sean McMahon will take over at the helm and inaugurated as president of the union, and next Easter the annual conference will be held at Treacys West County Hotel, Ennis.
Approximately 850 delegates representing 32,000 primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland and 6,000 teachers in the north will attend.
Spouses, partners and families often travel with the delegates, while more attend for the exhibitions that take place during theses events.
Welcoming the announcement that Ennis will be the location for the 2015 INTO conference, incoming president Mr McMahon said it will not only bring more visitors to Clare for the Easter holidays, but will also be a chance for teachers across the country to see what the county has to offer n terms of tourism.
“We would hope that when they see what is here they would come back with school tours too,” Mr McMahon said.
This year it will be Kilkenny under the microscope as the delegates attend the Lyrath Estate for the event.
A total of 20 delegates from Clare are attending the conference this week.
The conference opened yesterday afternoon Monday and was addressed by the current INTO president, Brendan O’Sullivan.
This morning’s session (Tuesday) will feature an address by the Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn TD and an address by the Minister for Education in Northern Ireland John O Dowd MLA.
This year’s INTO Congress will be dominated by educational and indus trial relations issues of concern to teachers.
These include pay and conditions of employment, fair taxation, the funding of schools, school leadership, small schools, promotion for teachers, special needs teaching, tackling disadvantage and school patronage.