Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

Will the Leader request the Minister for Education and Science to come to the House to explain his stance on primary level teacher training? His lack of consultation with the established traditional teacher training bodies has raised their concerns, and that of students, regarding the proposed Hibernia College on-line teacher training course. While I recognise there is a shortage of national school teachers and that many schools have had to rely on untrained teachers for years, I hope the Minister will come in and clarify his position regarding the future of a course such as that being provided by Hibernia College and also his failure to consult established and traditional bodies as to their future. If it is the situation that the cutbacks in education manifest themselves through the shortcutting of teacher training, the issue should be debated. I hope this debate takes place quickly in order to focus people's attention on what we should be doing rather than on outside protests. We must focus particularly on the qualification of suitable numbers of teachers to provide adequately for children at primary level.