Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman very much. Like last week, Chairman, I can confirm that I am in Leinster House.

I thank all of our witnesses very much for their presentations which I found very interesting. I will make a number of points and perhaps our witnesses can respond to them.

On teacher training, we do not have a very diverse teaching profession. I do not know how many teachers we have from ethnic backgrounds, from disadvantaged areas, or from the Traveller community but teaching is one of these professions which is ground-breaking and life-changing. The role model of being a teacher in a classroom is particularly powerful. I am wondering, and I have spoken to many different agencies about this, including the Teaching Council, as to how we can facilitate a mechanism of getting more teachers from diverse backgrounds into the teaching profession. I suggest that we should be as imaginative as possible.

If one is a primary school teacher, the Irish language is a particular requirement and that is completely understandable and justifiable. It would probably make more sense, however, to have the ability to teach Irish as something that one would train for in training college rather than being the pre-eminent barrier or requirement in order to become a primary school teacher. If one is not Irish or comes from an area that does not provide higher-level Irish in one's secondary school, that is an issue and it is therefore a barrier. I spent some time as a substitute teacher in a particular second level school in a disadvantaged area and higher-level Irish was not offered.

How can those children become primary school teachers? It is therefore a barrier.

The Education (Admission to Schools) Act was referred to earlier. Next month, we will have a review of the provision in the Act allowing schools to reserve 25% of places for the children or grandchildren of past pupils. I assume all the witnesses consider that provision to be regressive and unequal, and needs to be removed.

I agree with what has been said on educational funding. Far too many conversations take place in education about money. It dominates many relationships. Parents associations are basically asked to be fundraising committees. Parents here are asked to pay for books, which they are not asked to do in Northern Ireland. I take issue with voluntary contributions. Schools believe they have to ask for them because if they do not, they cannot put the lights on. We need to move to a situation in which parents, teachers and principals do not feel compelled to have conversations around money all the time. Students certainly should not be asked for money. What are the views of the witnesses, particularly those representing the second level unions, on the banning of voluntary contributions?

On the leaving certificate, do we not all believe that if we do not grab this opportunity now, it will not come up again? It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change this system. I do not know about anyone else's experience, but I am haunted by the leaving certificate I did in 1994, and I am 45 years of age. Sometimes the sentiment of people in Ireland is that they went through it, so there. In many of today's presentations, we heard that the leaving certificate is trusted, transparent and so on but it is damaging many young people. Some 85% of young people who go to disadvantaged schools make it to the leaving certificate and 15% do not. It is in no way reflective of the person. It is a brutal, savage system that puts far too much pressure on young people.