Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Another question about young teachers was asked with regard to their position under the Haddington Road agreement which so far only affects primary school teachers. The revised proposal put forward by the Labour Relations Commission for the public service stability agreement contained a number of commitments to help newly qualified teachers secure permanent positions in the education sector. An expert group is to be established to consider and report on the level of fixed-term and part-time employment in teaching having regard to the importance for teachers of employment stability and security. This is a problem in the primary sector but is an acute problem at second level where teachers receive a small number of hours and it can take quite some time before they have a sufficient number of hours for a decent salary. Personally, I would prefer newly qualified teachers to have greater certainty, particularly in the second level sector. Second level teachers teach subjects in the main whereas primary school teachers teach young children.