Mr. John Boyle:

I am glad the pay equality issue was mentioned. I do not have bald facts relating to the effect of the pay equality issue on teacher supply, but a survey was carried out after the first cut in 2011 in the parish of Gaoth Dobhair. The parish of Gaoth Dobhair would have a long tradition of providing primary teachers, many of whom have achieved 515 points in their leaving certificate to get into teacher training. That is a measure of the quality of primary and secondary education in Gaeltacht areas, but it is only one measure. The whole-school evaluation, WSE, reports indicate that primary schools in rural areas do just as well as primary schools in towns or urban areas.

However, the parish of Gaoth Dobhair survey showed that quite a number of the senior football players who won Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta emigrated to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. They won World Games medals recently in Páirc Uí Chrócaigh. Some of their partners, friends and girlfriends also went with them and they are doing very well in Gaelic games there too. They chose not to come to Dublin where there was a good deal of work available at the time. They chose to go to the Middle East because they were earning €36,000. Had they remained in Ireland and had their pay remained the way it was formerly, they would have been earning more than that, so there was a very significant cut. There is no doubt that teacher emigration has increased dramatically due to the cut to new entrant pay.

I am confident that there will be a full reversal of those cuts in the spring. The three unions involved are absolutely determined to ensure there will be a full reversal of the cuts to new entrant pay. It beggars belief that the State would invest so much money in training so many bright young people to become teachers over four or five years and then would allow them to emigrate in very large numbers. All one need do is go to Dublin Airport just before Christmas to see the droves of young teachers returning, from the Middle East in particular, for their two week break in this country. The issue is affecting all schools, teachers and the morale of teachers. It is also affecting rural Ireland and its small schools. I am glad it was mentioned and that the committee gave us time to air all of our issues. While there are myriad issues, that issue affects every school. It is affecting rural Ireland in a big way because if teachers from the parish of Gaoth Dobhair emigrate to the Middle East, as happened during my time in St. Patrick's College in the 1980s, there is a grave danger that those teachers will never return to this country.