Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

This debate on this amendment is useful because it has given us the opportunity to discuss other issues. I acknowledge the way in which the Minister answered my previous question on ethos and the competence of teachers in the context, for example, of the teaching of Irish. As Senator Mullen pointed out, however, there have been cases where matters relating to the redeployment panel could not be resolved and where teachers were not taken off it as a result of word on the grapevine to the effect that they were not very competent. The Minister will now have an overarching power which will allow him to appoint such teachers to schools which previously might not have wanted to avail of their services. Will he indicate what he proposes to do in respect of teacher incompetence? I accept that I am referring to a small number of individuals in this regard but nevertheless it is a factor.

I acknowledge what Senator Jim D'Arcy said, namely, that it is not always the case that a teacher might be incompetent but rather that he or she might not be well liked. It is never helpful when information of that nature gets onto the grapevine. We must be honest and state that a small number of teachers might not be competent. That is the case with any profession. What is the Minister doing to resolve this issue? What mechanisms have been or will be put in place to make the redeployment of teachers easier?