Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I wish to flag an issue that has been raised in regard to the timing of the notification issued by the Teaching Council, that is, the period of time it has to make a determination, and the payment of salaries in the interim. Under the legislation as it stands, the council must give one month's notice to a teacher in respect of his or her renewal or initial application of registration. The council then has three months in which to make a determination and must give one month's notice of its intention to remove a person from the register. There is a twofold anomaly in this regard. First, if there is a delay on the part of the Garda vetting unit a teacher could end up, through no fault of his or her own and having furnished all of the required documentation, being removed from the payroll while continuing to fulfil his or her duties as teacher. Second, the lead-in time is very tight to allow for a person to provide all of the required documentation.

I urge the Minister to review the level of notification that is given to teachers in order to allow them sufficient time to get all of the documentation together in advance of their renewal notice or initial application to the register. Will he, in addition, seek to introduce a streamlined process in regard to the engagement with the Garda vetting unit? The major difficulty arises not in respect of persons who are residing in this jurisdiction and have done so all of their life but in the case of persons who have resided in another jurisdiction, whether within or outside the European Union, in respect of whom the Garda authorities must contact their counterparts in that jurisdiction. Unfortunately there can be significant delays in securing a response in such cases, especially where the country in question is outside the European Union. I have spoken to individuals who lived in countries like India and Pakistan, for example, where the length of time it takes to get a response from the police authorities can be considerable. In such circumstances, a teacher might end up in a position where he or she is not on the payroll for weeks or months. I urge the Minister to ensure we do not have people working for the Department or qualified persons whose appointment is delayed, through no fault of their own but purely because of difficulties arising with the bureaucratic paper trail.

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