Sean Barrett (Independent)

I welcome the Minister. It is good to see him in the House again. I commend Senator McAleese and his colleagues on introducing the motion, which relates to a matter of vital importance.

Senator Power referred to sarcasm. It is not that long since a former Senator, Owen Sheehy Skeffington, campaigned against people who administered physical beatings to children in schools. We must recognise that the use of sarcasm can be just as damaging and I am delighted Senator Power raised the issue.

As Senator Moran stated, the SPHE programme in schools should be taught by those who volunteer to do so and who are properly trained. A study by the Royal Irish Academy indicates that approximately 80% of mathematics teaching at second level is undertaken by people with no qualification in this subject. One must wonder, therefore, whether the higher diploma in education, H.Dip, is a suitable qualification for those given that most important task of educating the next generation of young people.

The pleas on the part of previous speakers in respect of more professionalism and additional training are correct. In Finland - a country we seek to emulate - people must typically have a master's degree in a subject in order that they might teach it at second level. In the past, we engaged in a great deal of silly propaganda with regard to how smart people are in this country. The Minister has done much to try to set the record straight in that regard.

There is a need to consider the position in respect of the training of those who teach the various subjects on offer at second level. These individuals have such an important role and we appear to be encountering problems. People are being asked to teach course in which they do not have an interest or for which they have no enthusiasm. Young people tend to pick up on whether a teacher is interested in the subject he or she is teaching. One always tends to remember the teachers who were inspiring and those who were less so.

In the context of what Senator McAleese stated with regard to opening up schools, sports have an extremely important role to play. I refer, for example, to the Sam Maguire cup being brought to a school by the county team that won it, etc. Why do poets and Senator Mac Conghail and his friends not visit schools? Why do those who perform in operas for which State funding is provided not visit schools? One does not know what will inspire students or what they will remember ten or 15 years after they have left school. It could be a visit by a politician, for example. It is tremendous to see so many children being invited to visit the Houses of the Oireachtas. A student might be impressed by someone involved in the arenas of business, sport or culture. As a result, everyone has a role to play in the context of assisting the development of children in the most wide-ranging way. The reforms the Minister is attempting at second level are essential. I commend Senator Martin McAleese and his colleagues on their enterprise in bringing the motion forward.