Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses here this afternoon. I compliment them on their campaign to date. I have met Ms Dunne on a few occasions. Her campaign is going from strength to strength. I am familiar with the issues, which I have raised directly with the Minister for Education and Skills a few times. Unfortunately, so far there is no positive action to report from his perspective.

Aside from the campaign, I am aware of a number of school principals who have stepped down from the role purely because of the issues that have been outlined in the presentations. Are figures available for how many school principals have stepped down from the role each year and moved back into mainstream teaching due to the lack of a better post?

What happens if a teacher rings in sick in the morning and there is no time to arrange a substitute teacher? Deputy Martin addressed the issue in her question. I have no evidence to back it up but I am aware of teachers who had an interest in progressing their career and who applied for principal positions but many of them are not taking them up, primarily because they see their colleagues who are already stressed to their eyeballs. The system could be losing out as a result of that. Are the witnesses aware of the extent of the problem in that regard?

Stress is an issue that must be addressed, not alone in terms of the mental well-being of individual principals but due to the fact that principals are the team leaders in schools and if they are stressed then everybody else is affected, namely, teaching colleagues and pupils. Children in the classroom are being short changed as a result. The issue must be addressed. I am interested to hear the answers to the two questions I asked.