Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I thank all the contributors today, including both Ministers of State.

I have to be honest. It was some stroke, was it not? It was almost a stroke of monumental proportions. Having been contacted by parents, as I am sure everyone in the Chamber has been, and in consultation with schools in all of our communities, we brought forward a motion to deal with the teacher supply crisis in our schools. The motion makes 11 suggestions for how the shortage of teachers could be alleviated to some degree. Following an incorporeal meeting late last night, at which this was not on the agenda, we heard the solution that has come forth from the Government. For valid reasons, no Minister is present here today and no Minister has been made available to answer to the media.

The Government's solution focuses on career breaks. We know it was not even designed to be a solution. It was designed to evade, to dilute the narrative and to put the spotlight back onto teachers, as if somehow they are being duplicitous for having the audacity to take a career break. In some instances, people take career breaks to look after their families or, heaven forbid, to go off to earn the rent that they cannot afford in cities around Ireland. It was incredible. I should not be surprised but even I was shocked, as, indeed, were the schools who have contacted all of us over the past 12 hours. It is monumental. Rather than talking about salaries, conditions, terms of pay or the PME, they talk about career breaks. No Minister stood forward here today. No Government representative came in to admit that given that we are understaffed in our schools, this measure, which has captured attention, will bring not one teacher back into the system over the next two months. It will do nothing to address the shortages of staff in our schools. It is incredible.

The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, shocked me even further in her response. We highlighted the fact that in 83% of schools, as a last resort, principals have had to redeploy special education teachers to mainstream classes to plug the gaps. In her response, the Minister of State spoke about "banked SET hours". Her prepared script continued:

The importance in providing regular and structured support on a weekly basis to students with special education needs is crucial to their educational development ...

Who is she telling? More importantly, what is she doing about it? I appreciate that the Minister of State said it is an issue but she did not say what the solution is and what the Department will do about it. The Minister of State referenced something that was not even contained within our motion. It is incredible.

We are here today talking about a shortage of staff in our schools that is having consequences for the everyday learning experience of children and young people the length and breadth of Ireland. We could be applying the exact same standard to any one of our essential front-line public services. We could have been talking about nurses having to leave because they cannot afford the rent. We could be talking about gardaí because they cannot afford the rent either. The crisis across our public services is not a result of global factors. It is not a result of the pandemic. It is a result of successive centre-right Governments in this country which have broken the social contract and the responsibility for that lies squarely at the Government's door.

We implore the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, as a representative of the Government sitting here today - I appreciate he is here by himself - to take action, give this the recognition it deserves, get together and decide how we can keep our schools open and flourishing, and how we can diversify the type of people who can access the profession. Something must be done. Sitting here, diluting the waters, doing what we always do and saying that it is not the Government's fault - it is about those pesky teachers taking career breaks - is ludicrous and shameful. It is a sad reflection on this Government. There is no accountability and there are no solutions. They are scrambling for ideas at the last minute and offering nothing but blame. It is scandalous. The Social Democrats will not stand for it and that is why we brought this motion to the Dáil today.

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