Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's willingness to meet the delegation who are sitting in the Gallery. Perhaps he could indicate how we might arrange this meeting. I think they are delighted he is willing to meet them, and fair play to him. Could he tell me - or tell them - how we might arrange that this afternoon?

Beyond that, the Government needs to put its eye on this issue. Two years ago, there were 122,000 students in this sector, which is a huge number, and it is probably higher now. We are talking about an industry worth between €700 million and €1 billion. It is too big to take the attitude that this company is a private business and not an issue for the Department. I would like to see the whole sector nationalised, but if the Government will not do that, it must regulate it properly. In addition, these teachers are paid very badly, are often disgracefully laid off for the whole of Christmas in any case, even though they are taken back on in January by the same employer, receive very low levels of pay and do not get proper entitlements. It is not right for such highly qualified people to be treated this way and then to be landed in this situation. We need protections for teachers. We need to take this industry seriously and we need proper monitoring and regulation of the many fly-by-nights in the sector who are in for the quick kill and then disappear off into the night. God knows some of them will end up coming back and setting up other schools in a few years' time, having left a great many people high and dry. While things have improved slightly for the protection of pupils, we have a hell of a long way to go in taking this industry seriously and protecting the teachers.

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