Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the motion and agree with the proposed solutions, many of which seem to make eminent sense, such as agreeing a roadmap with the teaching unions on how we can achieve full pay equality as soon as possible, re-establishing the substitute supply panel at primary level, the use of teachers on career breaks, job-sharing and retired teachers, the swift registration of qualified teachers from Northern Ireland and other countries and to expedite the work started after the Teaching Council's 2015 report. These are all valuable suggestions and I urge the Minister to adopt them.

Last week, I asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, if his Department had received a request from the Department of Education and Skills regarding the shortage of teachers in key subject areas at second level. He told me that he had been "informed that there is not a teacher shortage but rather a shortage of teachers in some specific subject areas". This is typical Fine Gael spin - a shortage is not a shortage, although there is a shortage and the specific subject areas with reported shortages are those in the critical STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That area had much publicised strategic plans announced late last year in budget 2018 and so too did digital learning. Fine Gael Governments and Ministers - with the notable exception of Minister of State, Deputy Cannon - have an appalling record of ignoring the importance of education in coding and computer science for our future social and economic development.

The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, seems to have just copped on that coding in particular was depending on volunteers at local level, with community and after-school bodies and so on, to develop. It is so critical for Ireland's future as a digital nation.

In a reply to a recent parliamentary question, I was told that of the approximately 2,900 additional posts due to be filled in 2016-17 not all had been filled. Budget 2018 announced approximately 1,300 additional teaching posts in both levels of primary and secondary but in October The Irish Timesreported management bodies saying, quite accurately, that “At second-level, the situation is complicated by an oversupply of teachers in some subject areas - such as English and geography - and an undersupply of teachers for languages, science and maths".

While conflicting figures for the number of graduating teachers are circulating, principals, teachers and their unions are clearly telling us that there is a crisis in filling key posts in STEM subjects. The Minister has a heavy responsibility in this regard. Like other Deputies, I have received a lot of correspondence from teachers who receive unequal pay for equal work, who are struggling to make ends meet and who are concerned that some students may be missing out on stable expert instruction in important subjects. The lack of substitute teachers is also highlighted as a real concern.

The ASTI, INTO and TUI trade unions made a submission to the Public Service Pay Commission in which they highlighted the need for pay inequality to be urgently rectified. Not only do new entrants start at a lesser salary, incremental credits were also changed and qualification allowances were abolished. ASTI, my own union, reports that there has been a reduction of 62% in applications for teacher education courses. That is a great cause for concern. The Higher Education Authority has said that the number of recently qualified teachers emigrating has increased five-fold.

The Teaching Council report entitled Striking the Balance - Teacher Supply in Ireland: Technical Working Group Report, from December 2015 made several useful recommendations which included the setting up of a standing group to examine the supply needs of the sector for both primary and secondary levels into the future and improvement in data collection, particularly also with regards to Education and Training Boards. These are recommendations that the Minister should take very seriously and act on urgently.

We must wonder why Fine Gael has steadfastly refused calls to restore urgently pay levels newly qualified teachers who were hired on lower pay scales after the crash. Our education system was a major factor in our economic advance during the Celtic tiger and the excellence of our teachers was a cornerstone of our social and economic development. The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, is now at the steering wheel and it is important that he listens to this debate and adopts the positive resolutions which come from it.

See this speech in context