Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think we can take as read the points the five speakers have made and given in their submissions. We all know this. I am grateful to the bodies for the submissions. I used them in my party's Private Member's motion in the Dáil a number of weeks ago. It was extremely useful. All the answers are there. I would like the witnesses' response on this. Mr. Brian Mooney outlined the problem in The Irish Timeslast September. He said there are no plans to rectify this situation. He also said nobody seems to be willing to take responsibility. That is the truth. Nobody in the Irish State education administration seems to take this problem seriously. We had an interim report from the Teaching Council on teacher supply in 2015. A final report landed on the desk of the then Minister, Deputy O'Sullivan, at the end of 2015. After much pressure by me and others, it was published last year. It is scandalous. There was meant to be a forum on teacher supply in May this year. It was brought forward because of the pressure we applied in the Dáil a few weeks ago. However, that does not show any seriousness about this.

We are sacrificing the education of our children because nobody is taking responsibility for this. We are sending children into classes with no teacher. We are sending students into teacher training at high cost with no guarantee of a job at the end. The whole system is a mess. Will any of the witnesses tell me who, other than the Minister for Education and Skills, has any responsibility for this? This has to end. If this committee does not end this crisis, put forward solutions and make the decision-makers take this seriously, then we have failed in our role. They have to take this seriously. That is why I am speaking like I am today. It is unusual for me. I do not speak like this normally. However, this is such a crisis that a message has to get home to the powers that be that this has to be sorted out.