Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am baffled as to why the Department is using substitute teachers as an argument. Substitute teachers are contracted by the State under a different arrangement. I know many of them. Members of my family are substitute teachers. I am sure everybody in the room knows some of them. It is not the same as being on the contract with which we are trying to deal. What the State requires of a substitute teacher is that he or she put his or her name down, register with the union and the Department. They are called on to fill blocks of work such as when someone is on maternity leave or out sick. Everybody knows that it is a different arrangement. The explanation does not compare like with like and uses substitute teachers employed by the State as a means of undermining the potential to protect all workers. That is not what we are getting at. It is not the arrangement the State has with substitute teachers, albeit I defend their right to have a minimum income per week, too. However, that is not what this is about. I am sure we could look at how substitute teachers are employed and use it to argue against what the Government is doing.