The practice of retired school teachers getting paid fat pensions and being allowed to work part-time or residually within the education system amounts to legitimised social-welfare fraud. The receipt of a double pay cheque is an outrageous abuse of the welfare system and gives no hope whatsoever to up-and-coming newly qualified teachers who are totally frozen out. Education is not the only area where so-called residual or significant salaries are paid to those who are supposed to be retired who draw a state pension. We also seem to have a huge population of people in this country who draw heavily from the public purse and continue working. Second-line defence forces also cost us a fortune for doing absolutely nothing. Again they are paid a full pension on top of any other work they might get. Any country such as ours that plays this type of monopoly hasn't a hope in hell of ever moving forward.

Maurice Fitzgerald,

Shanbally, Co Cork.