Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, on the Order of Business, I raised the move towards a compromise between the Minister for Education and Skills and the teaching unions. It seemed that common sense had prevailed. However, overnight, the teachers' unions, specifically the Teachers Union of Ireland, indicated it may embark on a series of one-day strikes. This has not been supported by the representatives of the students, the representatives of the parents and my colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, speaking on behalf of Fianna Fáil.

My understanding is that both sides are very close in terms of a resolution on the junior cycle reforms programme and that the main bone of contention is about the teacher's assessment. The Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, in particular, and the other teachers' unions do not want internal assessment. There is a proposal on the floor that these assessments, the 40% in relation to the junior cycle examinations, would be carried out by external examiners. In other words, the sides are very close on this. Perhaps there is a little bit of posturing going on on both sides. Perhaps there is a suggestion that neither side wants to back down because it might lose face. I appeal to the teaching unions and to the Minister for Education and Skills that she would compromise a little bit more on this and that perhaps the teachers' unions might then move a little bit closer and we could have a resolution of this potential calamity that would be inflicted on pupils and on parents. I ask the Deputy Leader to use her good offices in this regard because she is a member of the Minister's party.

I also wish to draw the attention of the House to the recent decision by a German court to refuse the payment of unemployment benefits to a Romanian national who had not been working in Germany or had, my indications are, refused to work but still wanted to claim unemployment benefit. As a result of this decision, the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is the highest court in the European Union, has now found in favour of the German state. This means that any member state of the European Union can refuse to pay unemployment benefit to those within its borders who refuse to seek work. I am not sure if this is a problem of significance in this country. Our colleagues in the UK have grasped this as being, as they see it, the opening of a door to the ultimate aim of a bunch of eurosceptics within the Tory Party to stop migration into the UK from EU countries, not from outside. I ask the Deputy Leader to establish if the Minister for Social Protection has any plans to introduce legislation in this country in light of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

I congratulate and wish the newly-appointed Irish ambassador to the Vatican, to the Holy See, Ms Emma Madigan, every success in her new role. It has been a ground-breaking decision on two fronts. One is that she is the first woman to be so appointed to the Holy See. She presented her credentials to the Holy Father within the last few days. She will be a permanent resident there. This overturns a decision taken by the former Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, three years ago, when we were terminating the appointment of an ambassador to the Holy See. Following a very strenuous lobby - particularly by a group called Ireland Stand Up, that many of us would have visited during its lobby briefing at the time - I am sure they and all of us would welcome the new appointment.

As we are entering into a weekend of sporting activity, I wish the Irish football team every success against Scotland and congratulate Stephanie Roche of Peamount United and now working with a French football club on being one of the top ten contenders for the FIFA Puskás goal of the year. I would recommend to Members, if they have not seen the goal, to look at it on YouTube. Finally, I wish everybody involved in the rugby at the weekend the very best of luck. Go raibh maith agat.