Departmental Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2021-05-13
============================================================

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF), Cork South-Central

It is widely acknowledged that the children who lost out most during lockdown were those with special educational needs and those in situations of disadvantage. I and Sinn Féin called for the largest ever programme of summer provision and for the DEIS summer camps to be extended beyond DEIS schools. I welcome the fact that significant funding has been announced and there is a wider application potential there. The concern I have is ensuring the maximum number possible of those eligible can avail of the programme. Removing disincentives to staff and schools participating is key and there are a number of such disincentives. I would like the Minister of State to address them.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-05-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:16+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-05-13