Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in welcoming everybody back to the Seanad today. I also welcome back the students, teachers and staff who returned to school, along with those who started in schools in the past few weeks. It is important at this time to call for the prioritising of newly-qualified and unemployed teachers when filling substitute teaching positions that may arise in the school year. I regularly raise this issue both in this House and at meetings of the education committee. I have done so with the former Minister, Deputy Quinn, and the current Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. At the start of 2013, schools were advised to prioritise newly-qualified graduates for substitute positions. Although some schools have taken this on board, the issue remains a major problem nearly two years on. In a tough but improving employment market, substitute positions are crucial for newly-qualified and unemployed teachers to gain and maintain their experience.
Senator Ó Clochartaigh referred to a list of books he read during the summer and I will add to the suggested reading list for Members. On holidays I read Sworn to Silence, written by a Dundalk man, Mr. Brendan Boland. He highlighted dreadful clerical abuse carried out on him by Fr. Brendan Smyth. I recommend that everybody read the book so they can understand how a young boy's innocence was so brutally robbed. Shortly after reading the book, Cardinal Brady offered his resignation and it was accepted by the Pope in recent weeks. Having read the book, I would argue the resignation should have come years earlier. It is a brutally frank and honest account of clerical abuse at its worst, and I publicly thank Mr. Boland for his honesty in coming forward.
The Special Olympics European Games are taking place this week in Antwerp, Belgium, with 46 special Irish Olympians participating in seven sports. The games are due to close on Saturday and the athletes will be returning home in glory on Sunday. Again, there has been little or no coverage provided of these athletes and their terrific achievements. I highlighted these problems for the national games in June. Since turning in my petition to RTE earlier this summer, I have continued to work on the issue of broadcast coverage, and I will continue to maintain pressure on the issue. I request that we have a debate on broadcasting of minority sports at the earliest opportunity.