Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I second the amendment proposed by Senator Leyden and propose my own amendment to the Order of Business, namely, that the Minister for Education and Skills attend the House and explain how secondary school guidance teachers will be in a position to provide guidance to pupils if their posts are subsumed into classroom teaching roles. For example, in the case of a school in my local area which has 870 pupils, its 36 hours of guidance teaching per week will be subsumed into teaching responsibilities, with the result that guidance will no longer be available to students. This is a disgraceful attack on young people who are seeking to better themselves through third level education and so forth. I call on the Minister to attend the House today.