Professor Pádraig Ó Duibhir:

I am happy to address some of the questions posed by Deputy O'Sullivan. One issue that colleagues of mine who work in the post-primary area would talk about is the fact that 700 post-primary schools is a relatively large number, given our population. In that context, school size tends to be smaller here. While upskilling teachers so that they are qualified in three rather than two subjects would give greater flexibility to school principals, it could give rise to issues around pay and contracts. I am sure Ms Irwin has exact figures but I know that over one third of post-primary teachers do not have a full-time contract. That is a serious problem. Conditions, as well as pay, need to be addressed. There are issues around flexibility of employment and the fact that we have smaller post-primary schools relative to other countries.

If language teachers from abroad have a recognised teaching qualification, they can register with the Teaching Council here. If there are any shortfalls in their qualifications, institutions like DCU and other universities would be happy to fill in those gaps. I was previously a member of the Teaching Council and am aware that it is just about to announce a scheme whereby teachers with qualifications can undergo an adaptation period or do an aptitude test for certain areas to make up for any shortfalls.

The maths conversion programme has been very successful. It was an incentivised programme, and Deputy O'Sullivan probably dealt with it when she was Minister. The same could be done in other areas where there are shortages. The programme we are launching on Gaeilge and modern languages is a way to address quotas, in the sense that the professional masters of education process tends to deal with general application and whatever subjects the applicants bring with them, whereas a concurrent four-year programme would be cheaper for the students to get fully qualified in two subjects, and the numbers could be controlled in those areas. This is part of the addressing it. There are a number of issues that could possibly be addressed through short-term solutions.