Results 10,501-10,520 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: No, but people would say we were lucky.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am not sure in what sense liability would fall on the State. What would it be liable for - imposing a teacher on a reluctant employer?

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am not entirely sure and I do not wish to hazard a guess. I will revert to the Senator on Report Stage with a specific note on it. It is a fair question but I do not have a clear answer immediately to hand.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am fully committed to ensuring that, to the greater extent possible, only qualified and registered teachers are employed in recognised schools. Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 currently provides that a person employed as a teacher cannot be paid from the public purse unless he or she is a teacher registered with the Teaching Council. The Irish National Teachers Organisation,...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: To which section is the Senator referring?

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to respond to Senator David Norris. The intention was to introduce section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 without qualification. It was absolute in that it did not, as it should have, take account of unusual circumstances. The net point was that one could not be paid from moneys voted by the Oireachtas if one was hired on a temporary basis and not a qualified teacher. That was...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will confirm the position on Report Stage, if necessary. I seem to recall from a briefing I received that there is a small diminishing category of persons who were admitted into teaching and have contracts of employment but who would no longer qualify for such contracts today. However, they are still in good standing. Therefore, it is to allow me to provide what would be described in...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I accept responsibility for this. It seems to be a drafting issue; the reference should be to "a non registered teacher".

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I was referring to the university on the far side of the River Liffey.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am here to co-operate with the House, as the Cathaoirleach chooses.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: There have been a number of questions. Is Senator Norris satisfied with the response he received?

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Is it the same issue we corrected already? The context of section 24(9) is the inability of a school to source a registered teacher in a substitute capacity to temporarily fill a teaching post held by a teacher registered with the Teaching Council. Paragraph (f) permits the Minister to make regulations requiring a school to keep records as to why it could not engage another registered...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am advised that this was checked with the Parliamentary Counsel and the existing wording was insisted upon. It would not win a Nobel prize for literature.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am prepared to accept this amendment. It is belt and braces as it would concern registered teachers anyway, so there would be vetting in any case.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Does Senator Power accept the amending words proposed by Senator Hayden?

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will accept that amendment on Report Stage.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The provisions contained within the Bill prohibit the Department or vocational education committee from paying an individual who is employed in a school in the place of a registered teacher in a post to be funded by the Oireachtas. Effectively, the Senator's amendment would appear to insulate an employer from legal consequences of the dismissal of every teacher whose registration with the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes, but it is unlikely in that duration of time that a person would stay in the position as unregistered. The most fundamental point as far as the Department and I are concerned is that we do not wish to confuse the employer-employee relationship, which would be the effect of incorporating the provision in the legislation.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It is because we would be the third party. We would cease the payment and we would become activated into the court on the basis that we had withdrawn money from someone on the basis that we had deemed that he or she would have to be dismissed because he or she was not qualified. If one gives a person the right to invoke the Unfair Dismissals Acts then one is embroiling the Department of...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: That is the very point I make, namely, that we do not want any connection being made with unfair dismissals legislation. It is not necessary.