Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Page 7. Section 24(7)(c)(ii) reads:

(c) Notwithstanding section 30 of the Act of 2001, the Minister, where he or she is satisfied that it is necessary to facilitate—

(i) the urgent, temporary or occasional staffing needs of schools,

(ii) the continued established tenure of a person in a teaching position under an existing contract of

employment...

Given that the goal of the section is to allow the Minister to provide that certain teachers, most likely those who already have contracts of indefinite duration or who would be entitled to them under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, be allowed to continue to be paid from the public purse. However, the terms used in the subsection are not clear. If the Minister is seeking discretion to extend and define the exceptions he is carving out of section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001, surely it would be advisable to delineate that discretion; in other words, I am asking whether there is a need to add appropriate definitions in the interpretation section of the Bill of the terms "tenure" and "existing contract of employment", given that a new power is being given. It seems there ought to be such definitions. Perhaps there is a definition somewhere or in other legislation.

My other two questions are relatively simple. One relates to the proposed section 24(8) on page eight, line six, which begins with the words "Notwithstanding the Act of 2001". I presume there are a couple of words missing. Perhaps the missing words are "the provisions".