Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with the Minister. If the Minister thought "Morning Ireland" was difficult this morning, imagine being a primary school principal trying to find a substitute teacher at 8 a.m. this morning. Sitting at a phone, going through the list and trying to find one, which is virtually impossible for many of them. That was highlighted by the Irish Primary Principals' Network. If the Minister was a principal in a secondary school, he would experience the difficulties of trying to get teachers to fill vacancies in science or any of the subjects we value so much, such as mathematics. The reason there are so few people applying to be teachers in those subjects is because it is not seen as attractive. Pay is one issue. Pay equalisation is a key issue which the Minister has discussed, but there are the other issues.

I welcome the Minister's acknowledgement that there are areas of HR that need to be examined but we need to look at this in the round. There is a crisis. There is a shortage of nurses. That has been evident over the past number of weeks. There is a shortage of emergency doctors. That is being highlighted by the Minister for Health. There are so many areas into which we need to inject urgency. We also need to recognise that pay is an issue but it is not the only issue discouraging people from applying for jobs in the public service.

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