Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The implementation of section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 must involve an ongoing dialogue between the Teaching Council, my Department and the VECs. Amendment No. 3 is a technical amendment introduced on Report Stage. It is designed to ensure that in providing a transfer of information both teachers who are currently registered, as well as those who were registered in the past, may be identified in order to reduce the risk of error. This is necessary, as information is to be shared between the Teaching Council register on the one hand and the payroll records of the Department and the VECs on the other, in order to give effect to section 30.

With regard to amendment No. 5, concerns were raised by Deputy Brendan Smith in the Dáil as well as by the INTO about the wording of the new section, 24(10)(b). This provision referred to a limit on the length of time for which a non-registered person could be employed in a teaching position. The purpose of amendment No. 5 is to provide clarity and consistency within the regulations to be drafted under this legislation. It changed the wording so that the Bill would not refer to an unregistered person being employed "in a teaching position", but rather that his or her employment would be "in place of a registered teacher". This follows a similar approach taken in other provisions of the Bill.