Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister indicate if he will end the practice I mentioned, which is unfair to new people entering the teaching profession. For the past three years hundreds of extra teachers have been employed every year and some schools are splitting the jobs at second level, part of that obviously is a function of subjects. It is not fair that quite a number of younger graduates in their third and fourth year of teaching at second level are ending up with bits of hours or travelling between one school and another when, with the type of co-ordination that was talked about in the standing group's report, they could get a full-time job. If we want some of our brightest and best young people to commit to becoming involved in teaching and building a rewarding career, there comes a time, certainly when they are in their third or fourth year of professional work, that they should have a full-time job.

That is what the country needs. We voted the resources to the Minister's Department to do that. That is what a committee or standing group such as this would do. It would address some of these issues. It would not necessarily land on the Minister's desk on every occasion, where he would have to reinvent the wheel. It could be done by the teaching profession itself at the various levels. There are also issues with Gaelscoileanna and how they are provided with an adequate supply of teachers.

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