The three main teacher unions are holding their annual conferences this week.

More than 800 primary school teachers are attending the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) Conference in Cork.

The delegates represent 32,000 primary teachers in the south and 6,000 members in the north.

Later today the delegates will discuss the Labour Relations Commission proposals on public service pay.

The Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn TD will address the conference tomorrow (Tuesday).

Elsewhere, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland has begun debating a motion calling for a rejection of the LRC proposals.

Minister Quinn is also due to attend the AGSI conference tomorrow (Tuesday).

Bot the INTO and AGSI members are currently being balloted by post on the issue.

The INTO says it expects to have a result by April 15th but it's still not clear how members will vote as the executive of the union has not made a recommendation.

The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) begins its conference in Galway tomorrow and members will hear from Minister Quinn on Wednesday.

This address will be particularly interesting considering the TUI has already strongly rejected the new public sector agreement.