Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

There is currently no regulation and this means that unqualified and unregistered teachers can teach. We are introducing legislation to stop this. Many Members opposite are members of the teaching profession and know that the situation can arise where a qualified teacher is not available at short notice. I am proposing regulations arising from the discussions in the House on the Education (Amendment) Bill which will be time-limited and for use in extreme cases. I issued a circular because I am of the view that the last thing any of us want to see is retired people teaching when so many young teachers have not had the opportunity to do so. I have introduced a system of internship to allow schools take on unemployed teachers, similar to the FÁS graduate programme. This could at least give some people the opportunity to become probationary teachers. Another issue is that many young teachers do not have any teaching experience and therefore cannot apply for a full-time position. The INTO website shows teacher availability and it is incumbent on school principals to use registered and qualified teachers.

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