Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today I raise again the escalating problem of recruitment and retention of staff in schools. I have met many principals in Dublin 8 and Dublin 12 recently and the common theme I hear is that unless this issue is tackled head-on many schools will have to close. They have particular difficulty obtaining language and home economics teachers. I have heard anecdotally teachers in training are teaching leaving certificate subjects, which is unfair and not right. Teacher shortages are crippling our education system. The number of people going on to teacher training courses is also falling due to their long duration and the lack of income over the course. I have raised the issue of public sector recruitment and retention before. It is hitting the education system very hard. It is time the Minister took action and made this a priority.

AIB claims that 4,000 of its tracker mortgage customers have not suffered financially. It says that had those customers been on a tracker rate, it would have been 7.9% and would not have been any lower than the variable rate. This is not credible. We know anecdotally that AIB tracker customers were paying less than 2% over that period. The bank has also agreed to pay 1% in compensation and €615 towards legal fees. This is scandalous. Tracker customers have been treated very unfairly and the bank needs to be taken to task over this. I call on the Minister of Finance to come to the House to discuss this matter.