Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am answering the question. The best way of supporting the children is to ensure they have professional teachers in the classroom. By supporting those teachers professionally, through in-service and the welfare service available to them, as well as by having this process in place, we have the best way of ensuring the underperforming teacher is removed from the classroom and the teaching of children.

There have been ways over the past number of years that still exist where teachers can go out on permanent leave, effectively, through strands 1, 2 and 3. Approximately 700 teachers took that last year.

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