John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I accept the Deputy's genuine concern. However, I must remind him why this change was brought about. Before the inspectorate made its recommendations there was a list of people providing tuition, including people without a leaving certificate or post-school qualifications and who had not previously worked in a school. It is a big forward step to insist that people with the minimum qualifications as a qualified teacher should in the first instance be the people to provide that tuition. I accept there may be occasional circumstances in which the parents might have involved a psychologist or someone from another area of expertise. However, those are the exceptions. I must hold the line given that 130 people are providing tuition without qualification, which concerns me.

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