Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

It appears to be gender balanced and I see some strong minded people from parents' organisations, schools bodies, teaching unions and so forth. I wish members of the teaching council well and hope they will be successful. Its membership suggests it has the potential to be a strong body.

The teaching council has general responsibilities with regard to standards, procedures and criteria for recognition of new entrants, drawing up codes of practice etc. The most difficult aspect of its work will be to investigate and, where appropriate, apply sanctions in relation to professional misconduct or fitness to practice of any member. Other professional bodies, including the Medical Council and Law Society, have a similar responsibility. In the latter case, it is argued that more outsiders should be involved in assessing how the legal profession operates.

Certain procedures are already in place for dealing with teachers who are not doing their job as well as they should. Having discussed this issue with various bodies at the Joint Committee on Education and Science, it is clear these procedures are difficult to implement. For example, it is extremely difficult to remove teachers who are not performing. I am aware, however, that everyone's rights must be protected in such circumstances. Despite the slow and cumbersome nature of the procedures and the fact that few teachers have been removed from their positions, nevertheless they are available. I understand different procedures apply in different educational sectors, for example, as between the VEC, private secondary school and primary school sectors. How will the current procedures interact with the teaching council's role in this area? Clarity is required in these matters to ensure conflicts do not arise between the role of the teaching council and provisions contained in other legislation. The teaching council will need to have access to good legal advice which I assume will be provided in respect of this aspect of its work. Will the Minister clarify these points?

On the Order of Business this morning, Deputy Stanton and I asked when a Bill would be introduced on a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children, a matter Deputy Enright has also raised many times. Deputy Enright also raised the issue of vetting. Yesterday, I received a reply to a parliamentary question indicating that vetting procedures are still not in place for occupational groups, including teachers, other than special needs assistants, drivers, assistants for transport for children with special needs and so forth. Everyone involved in education, including the Minister, wants rapid progress to be made in this area. I am aware a vetting unit has been established in County Tipperary but what progress has been made in extending the register to other groups? This issue links in to the Bill.

One could raise a number of general issues in this debate, including questions on teaching, the changing role of teachers and the difficulties they face in carrying out additional responsibilities, such as tackling bullying and dealing with social interaction. On the issue of support for teachers, many in the profession believe insufficient time is allocated to in-service training. A variety of other support mechanisms are also needed for teachers and, in particular, school principals who have a significantly larger workload in areas such as special needs as a result of recent legislation.

While we could bring many wider issues into today's debate, I appreciate that we have limited time. The Labour Party will not oppose the Bill and we would like to see the teaching council operational as quickly as possible.

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