Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Very shortly we are probably going to ask the people of Ireland to elect a citizens' assembly called the Dáil. I do not want to mislead the Deputy or the House on that. It is unlikely that there will be any further citizens' assemblies proposed by this Government. I would like to say on the record of the House that I do see merit in a citizens' assembly on education. We have had quite a lot of them and my truthful view is that I am not a big fan of having many more. There are many complexities and important issues in education and it would be good to bring people together to tease through those issues.

I am sure we will all have a chance to outline our respective positions on that in the time ahead.

We are certainly not taking teachers for granted. I understand that teachers are not immune to the challenges that are faced by many young people in our country in respect of housing, and housing supply is an important part of improving teacher recruitment. I know that, in my constituency and around the country. We have a new pay deal, though, for teachers and it will mean a teacher's starting salary will now increase to €46,000, rising to a maximum of €85,000. This does compare well internationally, but I know the cost-of-living pressures in Ireland are real too. We have seen over 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2024 and we now have over 123,000 on the register. I think that when it comes to enrolments and admissions, better planning with centralised planning processes and forward planning on special educational needs is the way to go. I also think that the D15 task force, as established by the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, has an important role to play.

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