The Taoiseach says the Haddington Road Agreement will not be renegotiated for the ASTI teachers union. 17,000 teachers are to embark on industrial action next week after being the only union to reject the public service deal.

The Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said earlier that the union needed to step back and rethink their position.

ASTI members who are to embark on industrial action from next Tuesday. It means they will not co-operate with the new Junior Certificate cycle and will not hold meetings outside school hours.

They have been warned that the benefits of protection from compulsory redundancy could be taken from them.

The Education Minister last night warned teachers belonging to the ASTI that their jobs are at risk after rejecting Haddington Road. Ruairi Quinn says the teachers and their union need to "press the pause button".

"The decision by ASTI to remain outside the HRA and to withdraw from existing commitments means that the protection and the benefits of the agreement - including those in relation to security of tenure of employment - are not any longer available to their members" he said.

He suggested that this underlines "a strong case for a reconsideration by ASTI" of the situation.

And in the Dáil this morning Taoiseach Enda Kenny rejected claims from Sinn Féin that the Minister was behaving like a bully-boy.