Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this meeting is to consider the Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015. The purpose of the Bill is to provide a legislative basis for the role of the Teaching Council and for the forthcoming arrangements for the vetting of registered teachers to empower the Teaching Council to seek and obtain vetting disclosures as a registration body and to clarify and strengthen the statutory provisions relating to the Teaching Council's fitness to teach function.

I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and her officials to the meeting. If anybody has a mobile telephone, I ask them to either turn it off or put it on to flight mode.

If the committee is agreeable, we will conclude consideration of Committee Stage of the Bill this morning. Is that agreed? Agreed. I refer members to the list showing the grouping of amendments for this debate. All amendments not grouped will be discussed individually.

Before we proceed to discussion of the Bill, I wish to inform the Minister that before this meeting we discussed correspondence from the ASTI regarding a court case that has just finished on which a judgment has been made. The ASTI thought this Bill should be deferred as a result. I understand the Minister informed the ASTI she did not consider there was a need for that. Would she like to say anything about that now?