Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

Up to 700 teachers will lose their jobs because guidance teachers will move into teaching roles and then teachers within such schools who are not on full-time contracts will fall out of the system. Many of these young, new teachers will be forced to emigrate.

Most important, guidance teachers look after the mental health of their students. In many ways they are the first port of call for students who have suffered abuse or who have suicidal or self-harm tendencies. They are pivotal in holding many young students' lives together. A career guidance teacher spoke to me yesterday of having had a phone call from a parent on Christmas day. He went and spoke to the individual concerned and helped him to step away from the choices he was about to make. This is replicated throughout the State. I urge the Minister to examine this issue seriously and to see the effects that career guidance teachers have and to do his utmost to save these spaces.

See this speech in context