Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 447: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason students from the Republic of Ireland, who choose to study in Northern Ireland, have to go through a long and arduous process to get their degrees recognised by her Department in order to take up teaching posts; if she has made efforts to harmonise the education systems in order that degrees undertaken anywhere on the island are recognised north and south; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31976/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Lisbon Convention and the EU Directive on Mutual Recognition of professional qualifications, Ireland is committed to giving appropriate recognition to qualifications from other countries. The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland hosts a network of qualifications and quality assurance agencies from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, and this network has agreed a ready reckoner showing how levels of qualification in Ireland and the UK align with each other. This provides useful information for employers, learners and education and training providers for comparing qualifications. In addition the Authority is a national recognition centre for qualifications which is linked with similar national centres throughout the EU.

The teaching profession is regulated for the purposes of employment as a teacher in the public sector in Ireland. EU Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications came into force on 20th October 2007 and ensures that professionals from any of the EU member states proposing to enter a regulated profession will have their qualifications and experience recognised appropriately. The Teaching Council of Ireland is the competent authority for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland and holds the register of teachers approved to teach in publicly funded schools in the State.

As a general principle, persons recognised to practice a regulated profession in their Member State of origin must be given recognition to practice that profession in a host EU Member State. However if there are shortfalls or significant gaps in the applicant's qualifications or experience vis-À-vis those required in the host Member State, the host State may require a compensatory measure -- either an aptitude test or an adaptation period under supervised practice which addresses the shortfall. Therefore, such qualifications are examined on a case by case basis to ensure that the person concerned is appropriately qualified to teach in Irish schools. This is in line with normal practice under the EU Directive. While the Teaching Council is familiar with the majority of teacher training programmes provided in Northern Ireland, there are some instances where the matter has to be referred to an assessor for further examination. In addition, there is a large volume of applications for recognition of qualifications gained in other jurisdictions, and this may sometimes lead to delay.

Primary teachers trained in another jurisdiction, whose qualifications have been recognised by the Teaching Council, but who do not possess an appropriate Irish language qualification are granted provisional recognition to teach in national schools, but are required to gain competency to teach Irish within a 5 year period. In order to satisfy the Irish language requirement such teachers must pass an Irish language examination (Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge) before being granted full recognition.