I wish to raise the issue of the difficulty of schools finding replacement teachers. It is a huge problem that has been made worse by Covid. While it is a national problem, I will give one example from my own constituency of Greenhills Community College in Walkinstown, where a teacher has gone on maternity leave and the school has been unable to replace her. It has been told that it could be another five or six months. Whatever form the leaving certificate may take, there are students now who have no physics or chemistry teacher, who will not be able to have any teaching for this leaving certificate coming up, no matter what shape it takes. Teacher recruitment has been made worse by Covid, but there are long-standing issues with it. We need to do more to incentivise people. What can be done in the short term to help schools like Greenhills Community College in Walkinstown? The case concerns a teacher on maternity leave, not the sudden loss of a teacher due to Covid.

I cannot comment on the specific case raised by the Deputy. I am not aware of the details and background to it. The Minister has introduced a suite of measures to try to help schools with substitution. I can understand that in some subject areas, such as perhaps chemistry and physics, there may be more challenges in getting replacement or substitute teachers. I suggest that the Deputy contacts the Minister with a view to seeing what can be done.