Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister. I am glad to have the opportunity to discuss this Bill given that it is a very tough time for education in Ireland. I would like to make a few points on the legislation. In regard to more power being given to the Minister to decide on appointments and redeployments in the name of legal certainty and efficiency, my concern is around the nature of the new powers, which Senator Mullen mentioned earlier. Does this change in the Bill confer the Minister with discretionary powers to redeploy or dismiss teaching staff without adherence to the necessary safeguards in place to protect an individual's employment rights? As was mentioned earlier, it seems to weaken the roles of schools and other parties at the expense of the Minister. People have asked me what is the justification for this. Is there evidence that it will be more efficient or will it lead to disgruntled partners in the process?

Like Senator Mullen, I have queries about schools with varying ethos. What recourse will there be to veto the appointment of teachers who they believe to do not suit their ethos? In regard to gaelscoileanna, how will this affect the quality of Irish language teachers? Will that be guaranteed in those schools?

In regard to the renewal of the registration and the conditionality, it seems to be a positive step but I would like guarantees that there will not be any delays because of the new procedures involved. The recent experience of a constituent of mine of delays in registering which, in turn, meant delays in taking up a job she had been offered are a cause of concern for me in respect of this section as is the introduction of conditionality. The last thing we want is for young qualified teachers to be forced into a situation in which they cannot take up a job because their renewal is pending.

The Minister mentioned that the council may apply conditions such as continuing education and training, evidence of character and teaching experience. What steps will be taken to ensure the annual registration process is not too onerous on young unemployed teachers? For example, a young trained teacher might not get employment for a year or two years after his or her college training and might need to stay in other employment to keep afloat. How would he or she meet potential conditions such as continuing education and training or teaching experience if he or she has not been in a job since leaving college and perhaps a year or two years later is renewing his or her registration? Have the teacher unions been consulted on that part of the Bill?

What are the views of the teacher unions in regard to the employment of unregistered teachers? Many speakers spoke about unregistered teachers. Given that there are so many qualified teachers, how can there be cases of unregistered teachers? I would support substitute panels of people who are on-call or the type of substitute panel which Senator Healy Eames mentioned. If there are exceptional cases, could we not have plans B, C and D ready for that?

In regard to the abolition of the educational disadvantage committee, it made its final report in 2005 and has not convened since then. In light of the abolition of that committee and given that the Combat Poverty Agency, which had a specific interest in educational disadvantage is no longer in existence, what procedures are in place to identify and monitor the needs of students who are educationally disadvantaged given that research confirms that it is widespread and that approximately 60% of disadvantaged students do not attend DEIS schools? What measures are in place for data collection on educational advantage, policy formation and stakeholder partnerships?