Seanad debates

Tuesday, 9 October 2018

3:30 pm

Photo of Gerry HorkanGerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While this is not a formal proposal, I would like to endorse the comments of Senator Boyhan on tomorrow's proposal for a minute's silence regarding the very significant 100th anniversary since the RMS Leinsterwas torpedoed and sank with the loss of over 500 lives. This was the greatest number of lives ever lost in a single event in the Irish Sea. This is being marked tomorrow, very fittingly, and I would like to support his proposal for a minute's silence. I am sure the Leader will facilitate this proposal.

We will discuss the budget later so I will not discuss it at this point. Even though everything is related in some way to the budget, there is separate matter and a very crisis appearing and becoming more apparent every day in the secondary schools sector. Long before we bring in the Minister to discuss religious education, or instruction, as Senator Ó Ríordáin referred to it, I would prefer to see the Minister in here to discuss how we are going to have enough teachers in many subjects such as continental languages, sciences and Irish. This is a very serious crisis appearing in many schools. I attended a meeting yesterday evening with many school principals. This is a problem in Dublin in particular. The salaries that people are earning relative to the rents that they are having to pay and the cost of housing that they are having to incur means that they are not able to live in Dublin on the money they are earning. It is very difficult. Schools are talking about whether they have any monasteries or convents in their vicinity that they may have access to in order to house some of their staff, not because they want to, and it is not a long-term objective, but as a way of closing the gap in the short term. I want to see the Minister come to the House as a matter of greater urgency to address how he proposes having enough people in the system to facilitate the increase in pupil numbers. Even without an increase in the number of pupils, which we know is coming in any event, we are going to have a very serious crisis in many if not all subjects very soon.

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