Brian Walsh (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this Bill, which is reforming in its aims and common sense in its application. It pursues the stated policy goal of ensuring all teachers in our education system are appropriately qualified and subject to regulation and oversight by the Teaching Council but its provisions are tempered by reason. It recognises the contribution made by experienced unregistered teachers in the past and the fact that circumstances will arise where they can make a contribution to the education of our young people. The requirement for teachers to register with the Teaching Council ensures those entrusted with responsibility for our children's education have attained a satisfactory professional qualification and adequate training for the best possible service delivery. The move towards a schooling system staffed with qualified, registered teachers assures us of high standards and greater accountability in the classroom. It will also offer hope to a large cohort of recently qualified teachers, whose pathway to work was impeded by the retention of unregistered, unqualified or retired personnel.

It is necessary to take cognisance, as the Bill does, of people's employment rights and the limited circumstances in which experienced teachers who are not registered with the Teaching Council can play an important role in the provision of education. In rural schools in remote locations, difficulties can arise in identifying and recruiting a suitably qualified teacher at short notice. Demographic projections indicate the primary school population will increase by 70,000 over the next five or six years. It is possible there will be a shortage of qualified candidates, resulting in difficulty in filling a vacant post. It would be wrong for the provisions of legislation to dictate that such positions should remain unfilled in the absence of a transitional solution. For this reason, a number of exceptions have been included in the Bill through which unregistered teachers can be deployed.

In most cases, the ownership and trusteeship of primary and post-primary schools in Ireland are vested in private bodies even though nearly all are dependent on State funds. They are also all subject to State regulation and observant of State curricula. Our schooling system is therefore correctly regarded as being public. Heretofore, the authority of the Minister in the appointment, deployment and dismissal of teachers and principals has been diminished by the requirement on the Minister to obtain the agreement of school patrons, management bodies and unions in the execution of any of these actions. Our children's education is too important to be regulated at arms length and I welcome the fact that this Bill proposes to bring reform to the area. The legislation rightly dispenses with the requirement that the Minister must attain the agreement of interested parties and instead requires that he or she engage in consultation with stakeholders over appointments, redeployment or dismissals.

Perhaps the greatest significance of the Bill is the manner in which it facilitates reform and reflects the commitment in the public sector to increase flexibility in the interest of securing costs savings and efficiency. Deputy Dara Murphy spoke about the Croke Park agreement, which is an important aspect of the Bill in the context of the Minister's annual budget, 80% of which is pay related. It is important that the Bill can facilitate reform of this area and best use of limited resources. Where teachers are surplus to the needs of the school, they can be deployed in order to meet the needs of another school. Surplus positions can be absorbed, leading to savings through more prudent use of resources. The State has a legal responsibility to provide for the education of its children and a moral responsibility, as well as an economic interest, to ensure education is of the best standard possible. The Bill recognises and embraces that responsibility and I commend the Minister for bringing it before the House.

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