THE INTO has appointed the first female general secretary in its 141-year history. Sheila Nunan from Newbridge, Co Kildare will replace John Carr when he retires at the INTO conference next Easter.
Ms Nunan, the deputy general secretary, was elected securing over 60 per cent of the vote in an electoral contest with Noel Ward, a senior INTO official. The general secretary-designate said the teaching profession was facing the most challenging period in its history.
The projected 70,000 increase in pupil enrolment over the next seven years would present huge challenges in terms of school buildings and staffing levels.
Ms Nunan’s immediate priorities would be to protect the education service. She stressed that teachers’ pay was again becoming an important issue for members.
Asked about media criticism of teachers, she said there was a huge gap between such criticism and the reality.
At local level, parents and communities hugely appreciated the work of primary schoolteachers.
About 85 per cent of the INTO’s 30,000 members in the Republic are women. Ms Nunan paid tribute to her predecessors and the union’s executive who had vigorously promoted a more active role for women in the organisation.
Ms Nunan paid tribute to John Carr, whom she described as a superb general secretary and someone who would be a hard act to follow. Ms Nunan lives in Glencullen, Co Dublin.
She attended primary and secondary school in Holy Family School Newbridge and then completed a degree in politics and sociology in UCD in 1978.
The following year she received a postgraduate diploma in education from St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra.
She is a former principal of St Kieran’s national school in Bray, Co Wicklow.
