Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this motion which has my full support. Some eight or ten years ago there was an abundance of teachers and some of them had no jobs. Now we are looking at a shortage, especially in certain areas. With whatever statistics are being collected, this situation should have been forecast. Equality and pay for young teachers is very important. It must be made attractive to bring people in. I agree with previous speakers that the Teaching Council needs to step up to the mark. We have all seen how when people are trying to register, there is so much rigmarole and it takes so long. It should be an efficient body which does this quickly. It holds up progress. Its job is to get the person in line to take up work as quickly as possible but it is not doing this.

It is worrying when one speaks to the multinationals and the high-tech firms here. We need to be at the forefront of subjects such as maths, physics and science.

People take career breaks, there is no point in saying that they do not, but as I have said previously, in health and other areas where there are problems in staffing numbers, we should dangle a carrot in front of people. For instance, we could tell them in college that they can have €3,000 annually if they sign up to remain in the country for a certain number of years. There is not much point in Irish taxpayers paying for education for people to then go to Dubai and various countries in the Middle East. Our country cannot afford that. We need to have a radical rethink. If someone wants to do that it is fine, they may do so, but they may have to pay for it. On the other side, things such as fees can be dropped in order to attract people into the area provided they are willing to remain in the country and work here for a certain time, after which they can go.

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