Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The amendment seeks to ensure that a person cannot be employed in place of a registered teacher without this being governed by ministerial regulation. As written, the provision states that where the Minister is satisfied that it is necessary to facilitate the urgent, temporary or occasional staffing needs of recognised schools, he or she may, from time to time, prescribe regulations governing the circumstances in which an unregistered person may be employed in place of a registered teacher and any conditions that might attach to that employment. Those conditions could relate to a maximum time limit for the person's employment and the purposes for which he or she is employed. The Bill does not give the Minister discretion to take any other type of measure through which an unregistered person may be employed in place of a registered teacher. Therefore, if the Minister does not make regulations specifying the circumstances in which an unregistered person may be employed, such a person cannot be employed. The Oireachtas is only permitting this to be done by regulation and not by any other instrument. That is the advice I have been given and, as such, the Deputy's amendment is not necessary.

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