Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That has already been published and is before the Houses. In respect of the junior cycle, which is not part of that Bill, I have had 40 hours of discussions with teaching unions. An independent chairperson whose name was proposed by the unions put forward what he considered to be fair proposals and the unions have still withdrawn from consideration. I believe we need this reform. While the Deputy says we have a fair system, it is fair at assessing what a person can write in a written examination at the end of three years but it is not fair to all students because it does not assess a variety of strengths that young people have nowadays. I also have a duty to the other partners in education such as the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, the National Parents Council and the management bodies who want us to move forward with this reform.

The particular concern I have with the Deputy's contribution is that he seems to be suggesting that teachers are so unprofessional that they would not be able to carry out this assessment without being intimidated into making decisions that are not in the best interests of students. I very much respect and value the professionalism of teachers, as does the rest of the country. They are held in very high regard. This reform has been proposed for a long time and we need to move it forward in the interests of all stakeholders.

The Deputy mentioned resources for careers guidance, referred to my predecessor, Deputy Quinn, and suggested that he handled this badly. I reject that contention. The reason my predecessor had to cut funding in the Department of Education and Skills, as all other Ministers had to cut funding, was because of the way the economy was left to them when they came into Government. It was inevitable that funds would be cut from the education budget.

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