Ms Joanne Irwin:

I suppose, without trying to burst everybody's bubble, I think this would not work. We are dealing with teenagers aged from 13 to 18. You are an adult, Acting Chairman. You can sit down and watch. You are motivated. Some of our students are motivated. We have teachers in disadvantaged areas. We have teachers in Youthreach centres whose day-to-day task is to ensure that the student shows up for class every day. That cannot be done by a remote delivery. Who meets the parents? Who corrects the work? How can one teach materials, technology and woodwork via remote learning? It sounds great for a highly motivated student in a south Dublin school but that is not what we are dealing with.

We are dealing with schools all over Ireland. This is a resourcing issue. We would not have an issue with recruitment and retention of teachers if all teachers were paid the same. We have done a survey and found that 94% of teachers who started since 2011 would stay in the profession if they were treated the same as their colleagues. There are practical issues and health and safety issues that are of concern.

There are motivational issues involved. There is a lot to be considered here. We are not dealing with adults. Some students are very highly motivated but others are not and for some, the biggest challenge is ensuring that they are actually in school every day. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact we are dealing with a cross section of education, not just schools in south Dublin.