Gay teachers in Ireland have said their students are bullying them, and they fear they cannot do anything about it in case they lose their jobs.

At the Teachers’ Union of Ireland annual conference, Patrick Hogan, from Limerick City Council, said action was needed immediately to stop ‘the fear being suffered by so many of our colleagues.

‘Our LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) colleagues fight to overcome the huge fears they face in their schools every day,’ he told the conference.

‘These fears are not just of losing their jobs, but fears of homophobic bullying they face on the corridors of their schools.’

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Hogan added in some schools were turning a blind eye to homophobic bullying of teachers by students.

‘These may be colleagues who are already under strain within a school and this is allowed to be tolerated,’ he said.

‘They would be isolated incidents around the country.

‘In one part of the country, there is a teacher who is under severe strain at the moment, and was transferred into a particular school – she was not happy with this.

‘She was transferred out of there and has since been transferred back in there and faces [homophobic bullying] on a daily basis,’ Hogan added.

Speaking to Gay Star News, Brian Sheehan, the director of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network in Ireland, said many schools are silent about either LGBT teachers, or homophobic or transphobic bullying of staff and students.

‘That silence breeds a culture of bullying of teachers, and more importantly bullying of young people,’ he said.

‘One of the things in Ireland is there are not many teachers who are open in schools, due to the possibility that legislation would not protect them.’

Sheehan said gay rights in Ireland, ever since the decriminalization of homosexuality 20 years ago, has evolved rapidly.

He is working with parliament to stop an exception in Irish equality laws that poses a threat to LGBT teachers.

As schools are independently run, and often funded by Catholic groups, Sheehan said it was difficult to get all the good work into schools.

‘As more and more LGBT teachers come out, and more and more LGBT students come out, there will be a continued change to the culture in schools,’ he said.