It has also emerged that further negotiations are due to take place this week in which it is expected that permanent posts will be given to teachers who trained in the UK and who are not qualified to teach Irish in the classroom because they have failed to pass the requisite Irish exam.

The INTO is negotiating for permanent posts for the unqualified teachers under the terms of the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003, which states that workers employed in temporary positions for four years are entitled to a "contract of indefinite duration".

Last week's discussions resulted in 55 people who hold a secondary school teaching qualification being awarded permanent primary school jobs after having worked in a primary school for over four years.

John Carr, president of the INTO, defended the union's decision to negotiate on behalf of the unqualified teachers, saying that it was simply representing its members.

"It's the law of the land, and we have to work within that, " he said. "This situation has come about because of the Department of Education's failure to ensure that there were enough fully trained teachers coming on stream, leading to pupils being taught by teachers without a primary teaching qualification. It is a situation that everyone has inherited."

However, the director of the Irish Primary Principals Network, Sean Cottrell, warned that the negotiations would have serious consequences for children's learning. "We are deeply concerned about the implications of having unqualified teachers in our schools, " he said. "This obviously compromises the quality of teaching, and it also leaves schools wide open to litigation from parents. Would a doctor be given a job as a surgeon, even though he had never trained for surgery?"

Cottrell said that unqualified teachers who stood to benefit from the employment act should be required to upgrade their qualifications to that of a fully trained primary teacher. "If they are unwilling to accept further training, should the Board of Management then negotiate a redundancy package for them?" he said.

The president of Conradh na Gaeilge, Daithi MacCarthaigh, warned that the presence of teachers who could not teach Irish in primary schools would have a "catastrophic knock-on effect" in the education system. "It sends a clear message to children that they need not bother learning Irish, and it's also insulting to all the teachers who have trained in the UK and have passed their Irish exam, " he said.

The move was also condemned by the head of the National Parents Council(Primary), Fionnuala Kilfeather, who said that parents should have been made aware of the negotiations. "Things like this shouldn't be done behind closed doors, " she said.