Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support Deputy Dara Calleary's amendment. A great deal of the focus in this debate has been on the past but if one wants to talk about education in a serious way, one has to talk about the future. It is the future of all children and young adults who are students. The world in which they hope to make their way has to be taken into account. The purpose of education is not only to allow them to develop themselves to the best of their potential but also to provide a mechanism through which they can hopefully contribute to the world, their country, society and community. What is amiss with the Government is that it is not up to speed with what is happening currently in the world of education. This morning I talked to somebody who was in the fourth year of degree studies to become a secondary teacher and is planning to go to England. That person feels that the remuneration will be better and that it will enable saving towards the purchase of a house and establishing a household.

Since my constituency, Dublin West, is such a huge area with developing schools and has an enormous number of children and young people, we employ thousands of teachers in the area.

However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find teachers at second level who teach the specific subjects required. I say this with disappointment, but we are making very little headway in training people to teach STEM subjects, although there is a great deal of conversation in the Department of Finance about it being one of the key areas in the context of our future economic development and prosperity. There is, however, no sustained focus on it by the Government.

I hope and I am sure the Government will agree to the amendment because it just calls for a study. However, one point that I hope eases the Government's path to agreeing to it is that yesterday's Exchequer returns were very good overall on the tax side. They show the Government as having a bounty in the taxation received and, importantly, a significant underspend on the expenditure side. We have moved out of the crisis period and must act as though we know it. We can start to build infrastructure again. Our educational infrastructure is vital.

Many of those entering the teaching profession are transferring from other degree courses. Notwithstanding what their first degree is or a number of years spent doing other work, they are deciding they that would like to be teachers, which is great. There are also people in their 30s and 40s who are deciding to convert to being a teacher. However, the courses are quite expensive, particularly for those who are self-funding and in another job while getting ready to transfer. If they are full-time day students, they will not receive any tax relief. The same applies to those who are studying later in life to become doctors. We want and need people in our expanding population to pursue these areas of study.

Let us consider the Exchequer returns and population growth together. We have healthy Exchequer returns, thanks partly to the sacrifices everyone made. However, they will not stay healthy unless we invest wisely to protect our future. This involves investment in the built infrastructure. Most of the older schools should be rebuilt. The Minister has moved extraordinarily slowly on the school building programme and left me puzzled as to why he would delay the building of new schools. Staff and students should be able to feel proud of the school in which they are teaching or attending.

Mature students will require the standard starting salary. The Minister has an opportunity to avail of a review to accelerate and bring forward restoration. In turn, it would send a strong message of confidence to those studying for education degrees in various colleges and universities. I hope it would then see them staying in Ireland to contribute their skills in the economy rather than feeling obliged to move away.

We also have to bear in mind that rents are sky high. I hear about this issue all the time when talking to teachers in staff rooms, particularly in the greater Dublin area, but I also hear it in most city areas and large towns. Those starting a teaching career could also be trying to pay rent, while ultimately trying to fund an affordable house purchase. Essentially, the Government will need to address the salary issue. Otherwise, people will inevitably be poached by the finance and IT sectors in which, within a number of years of taking up a role in these fields, they can expect to earn significantly higher salaries than those of teachers. In Ireland teachers have traditionally started on relatively high salaries, but they then face a salary scale that extends over a long period.

I also want to speak briefly about the position of those being recruited at third level. I say this as someone who was a member of the Teachers Union of Ireland for approximately 20 years and worked for 20 years in the Dublin Institute of Technology. What is happening to assistant lecturers and those on contracts needs to be addressed. Many of them have studied to PhD level or are studying for a PhD, but they are not getting a fair deal. A study such as the one suggested by Deputy Dara Calleary would allow for these anomalies to be addressed. I appreciate that the Government may not be able to address all of them at once. However, looking to the future, it could start to address them on a much faster scale than that set out. I say this in the context of yesterday's Exchequer results and the likely end of year figures which are robustly healthy owing to additional corporation tax and tax receipts under other headings. It is foolish to allow the teaching profession to be demoralised when the Government could address this issue and set out a better timetable and timeline for pay restoration.

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