Max HeyraudOn Wednesday, nearly 100 students protested outside BIMM Music Institute Dublin in solidarity with lecturers facing job losses due to proposed restructuring plans.
BIMM, Dublin’s music college and institution for the next generation of artists, is facing staff shortages, with approximately one-third of the teaching staff laid off. The college was most notably home to Fontaines D.C.
Students from one of Ireland’s leading music colleges gathered on Francis Street with cardboard banners to express their objection to the reforms, together with members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT). According to the current proposals, lecturers must reapply for newly formed posts, which IFUT alleges provide poorer terms and conditions, such as casualized freelancing contracts.
Joe Wall, a lecturer since the college first opened in 2011, is now at risk of losing his job. He told RTÉ that staff would not be “paid enough to live off.”
In a statement to RTÉ, student representatives said, “We are organising protests and supporting strike action [by lecturers] to ensure our voices are heard and to push for a solution that protects both the rights of staff and our education.”
