Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

There is a necessity for a debate on the training of primary schoolteachers because, over a three-year period — between 2003 and 2006 — at college, I became aware that a significant minority of members of the student cohort were openly stating that they had no interest in or intention of teaching. That was quite a disturbing development and it raises questions regarding aptitude, methods of interviewing and many other fundamental issues.

Given the fact that primary schoolteaching is so much at the core of what the Celtic tiger economy is about and that we value primary schoolteachers so highly and the contribution they make, it is essential that we debate this matter. In realistic terms, every profession has its good and bad performers and it would be naive to suggest that teachers — I was one myself — are an exception to that rule.