Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I might be substituting in his local school before we know it. The day was an eye-opener. The teachers I saw were doing everything they have done so well for many years, but now with added pressures and strains.

I have a suggestion to make to the Minister. When I was walking down the corridors last Friday there were two trainee teachers, one at the junior end of the school and the other at the senior end. They were locked into classrooms teaching rigid lessons that were given to them by the training colleges. They were good lessons, but rigid rather than real-life teaching. They are on a 14-week teaching practice block at the moment. When I did my teaching practice, we had to do two weeks and we were then sent out to think on our feet and become teachers. We learned a little bit the hard way, but we got there. I believe that in this academic year there would be merit in sending the hundreds of teachers on teaching practice placement into classrooms to do substitute work. They could get the unqualified substitute rate.

I remember when I was in Mary Immaculate College ditching Friday lectures to do substitute teaching because it gave us €120 or €130 which was like heaven the following week when we got to spend it on a night out and doing all the normal student things. At the moment, student teachers are limited in what they can do. This is a no-brainer. We did it with healthcare staff last year when we got them to work as healthcare assistants. We got student gardaí to police the streets. Let us get student teachers into schools, as we would have done in the past. Let us end the 14-week teaching practice block this winter and get these students into classrooms. Instead of giving them regimented, rigid lessons from the training colleges, give them a brief, like the one I got on Friday. It was a case of, "In you go, do a 'PAW Patrol' jigsaw and long division in third class and a comprehension activity in sixth class." That is real-life teaching, learning on your feet. It would be a massive change.

I also suggest something that will probably result in a bit of a backlash. So be it, as that is what we are here for. The school inspectorate cannot visit many schools at the moment. We should send them in to teach. Each and every one of them is a teacher. By virtue of the rank of the profession to which they have risen, they have served for years and are supposed experts in education. If we were to send them into classrooms, we would have a few hundred extra people going into the system overnight, reducing the pressure we have seen in so many schools.

In my remaining time I wish to speak about two other issues. The first is Green Atlantic, the fabulous offshore wind farm project being developed off the County Clare coast to bring us to a new era for the Moneypoint power station which is phasing out the burning of coal. It is going to be one of Ireland's and Europe's largest offshore wind farms. The most exciting part will be onshore because capacity is to be developed onshore to convert the wind energy into storable hydrogen. Buses in Dublin are already being retrofitted for the use of hydrogen so they can be driven around the city more sustainably. There is a fantastic opportunity here for hydrogen. Shannon Airport is just down the road from Moneypoint where the Green Atlantic project will take place. Given the potential of hydrogen, the developments offshore and the expertise we have at third level in universities in Limerick and Galway, including Limerick Institute of Technology, LIT, which is now a technological university, I believe Shannon Airport and the mid-west have the potential to become a driving force for sustainable aviation, in particular in the field of hydrogen, which might fuel aeroplanes in the future. Perhaps the Minister could champion that idea in the Department.

Kilrush, another west Clare town, is putting forward a proposal to become a maritime centre of excellence. This makes so much sense. The town is kitted out for it. A building has been identified and the project has been costed. There is a demand within the industry for another centre of excellence. It cannot all be down in Haulbowline in Cork Harbour. There are other places in the country where we need to have a capacity to train and equip people in all sorts of seafaring skills. County Clare can offer that. There is a proposal in at the moment with the Minister's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. I hope to speak to her next week and to impress on her the importance of the project, but it would help no end if the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, also caught her by the arm and told her what he heard in the Chamber tonight about a great project she needs to fund in County Clare. It will see the light of day. It will train people to a high standard for many years. It will be a standard setter. I hope the Minister will back it and join me in making representations for west Clare. Together we might deliver this project for Kilrush and the west.

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