Norma Foley defends teacher shortage 'opportunity' comments called 'disgraceful' by Mary Lou McDonald

Education Minister Norma Foley has defended her comments saying that Ireland has a teacher shortage “opportunity” and not a “crisis”.

She made the comments during an Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) election hustings during a debate on the lack of availability of substitute teachers.

A recent survey, carried out by the INTO in conjunction with the Catholic Primary School Managers Association and the Irish Primary Principals' Network, found that 951 teacher posts in primary and special schools were vacant.

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At the INTO hustings, Ms Foley was asked if there was a “teacher substitution crisis”. Labour election candidate Angela Feeney said: “I would agree that it is, it is a crisis. It's not going towards a crisis. It is a crisis.”

Minister Foley responded: “Just on that, the word crisis when written in one particular language, it means opportunity or it means division or disappointment. We see it as an opportunity to do more and more in (that) space.”

A video of the clip began to circulate online, with many criticising the use of the word “opportunity” at a time when principals are struggling to get staff.

In a statement on Thursday, Ms Foley said she was aware there had been “a lot of commentary about my remarks on teacher supply during the INTO general election education debate”.

She said: “What I was saying is that we have 9,000 extra teachers in schools, and we have to take every opportunity to introduce new measures such as grants to support students doing a masters in education, grants to support STEM teachers [and] extension of substitution panels.

“We have increased the number of student teaching places by 610 per year, so we now have over 3,800 new teachers graduating every year.“

At a press conference in DCU, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald slated Ms Foley’s comments, branding them “disgraceful”.

Sin Fein's Mary Lou McDonald poses for a photo with Samuel Kennedy, 20, TV manager of DCU TV, from Co Roscommon, at the launch of Sinn Fein policy document for young people at the DCU, Dublin, ahead of the General Election on November 29. Picture date: Thursday November 21, 2024
(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

She said: “I find that absolutely astonishing at a time when schools are struggling to staff their classrooms, that anybody, but particularly an outgoing Minister for Education, would describe that as an opportunity. It's a disgraceful comment to make. So many of our young teachers are leaving Ireland. They're going to Dubai, they're going to Australia.

“The effort has to be to ensure that teachers have full contracts and jobs and posts here in Ireland and to encourage those that have gone away to actually come home. Is it their [Fianna Fáil] view that our young teachers leaving in big numbers, that that's a good thing? That can hardly be the case.

“I think we have to have clarity for young people as they're finishing out their education and setting out on their lives, that actually we want them to build those lives here, to have their opportunities here.”

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