Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I welcome this Bill and look forward to the formal establishment of the council next month. This is important legislation that is long overdue. It will lead to the maintenance and improvement of the education and training of teachers as well as promoting teaching as a profession. I hope the teaching council will also examine issues such as the shortage of male teachers and will have a role in trying to make the profession more appealing.

I was bemused by the Minister's use of the phrase "legislative lacuna". Perhaps she consulted a thesaurus to find the most polite way to describe what I can only describe as an error. I am also amused that she specifically noted that the regulations were signed into law by her predecessor.

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