Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I welcome representatives of teaching unions who are in the Public Gallery. This is one of the longest motions I have seen in a while from the Opposition, as is the Government's proposed amendment. There are 11 points and a lot of suggestions in the proposers' motion. By the way, the proposers are the people who introduced the two-tier pay system in the first place. It is not a mystery because if pay restoration is the buzzword, we do not need the other suggestions, as well as getting rid of the two-year course for teacher training, which was introduced into the process in the past couple of years by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The cost of that course makes it prohibitive, meaning that if one has to study up to six years to be a teacher, one might as well be a doctor and get paid twice as much.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach made an interesting statement when he was talking about his new unaffordable housing initiative. He outlined ways people could get a deposit for a house, one of which was the bank of mammy and daddy, if they happened to be as privileged as some of those in Fine Gael who got that or they could go abroad and work. It seems that teachers took that message on board a long time ago, which is the root of the problem. The INTO made the point that €50,000 is lost by a primary teacher, which is the equivalent of a hefty deposit for a house. The ASTI points out that earnings over the span of a teaching career will be €70,000 to €100,000 less. It is not a mystery that young graduates do not stay in this country to be exploited and placed on part-time or if-and-when contracts as they are needed, on top of which they must pay rents and mortgage costs. Unless these issues are addressed, we will see the continuation of shortages.

The Government has attempted to minimise the scale of the problem. In its amendment, it says that the rate of graduates has been constant. The population has increased, however, and it is clear that people are emigrating. Primary school managers say 90% of schools have difficulties finding substitutes. It is fine to point to Gaelscoileanna but this is across the board. One in three substitutes is not qualified or registered. Parents should know that their children are being crammed into overcrowded classes if a teacher is sick or away. They should know that in secondary schools, unqualified teachers are teaching their children in exam years and that they have a lot of free classes. Learning support, of course, has been gutted to take teachers out for substitution. Again, the weakest and most vulnerable pay the price. The Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools reports difficulties finding modern language teachers, Irish teachers and science teachers. It is virtually impossible, according to the Joint Managerial Body, JMB, to obtain an effective physics or French teacher. That is because a person with science or maths can go into industry or go abroad and earn a hell of a lot more.

The motion mentions everything except the fact that pay and qualification allowances have been slashed while there are no permanent jobs for teachers who have spent five and six years studying. It is very hard to take this from Fianna Fáil, which party introduced the bailout and austerity programme in the first place wherein public sector workers in particular were pinpointed as the cause of the problem when of course it was the private sector, banking, the construction industry and so on. It is very hard to listen also to the Labour Party which was in government right through this pay inequality, which has been raised as an issue not just in the last year and a half but for years. The former Tánaiste has only raised it in the past year and a half but the teaching profession has been raising it for a long time. The pay of teachers and all public sector workers must be restored. The money is there. Apple is just one classic example. If corporations were made to pay more tax, there would be no need for public sector workers and young graduates to pay the price.

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