The word "cancer" strikes fear into many people. Cancer is not just a single illness; it is a series of illnesses. Sometimes our understanding of these illnesses can be simplified by treating them all as one. Nonetheless, cancer is a series of illnesses that has affected so many people. I would say almost everyone in this Chamber has had a loved one or relative who has died as a result of or is currently suffering from cancer. I acknowledge that there is a Deputy present who has recently had a diagnosis and I am de…

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis an Teachta Conway-Walsh. There have been many happy scenes throughout the State of children returning to school and it is a positive thing. We had our own return to school with our nine year old last Thursday and I must give a lot of credit to the school. It has been excellent so far. I acknowledged yesterday, agus d'aithin mé ar maidin sa chruinniú a bhí agam, go bhfuil obair dochreidte déanta ag múinteoirí, príomhoidí agus boird bhainistíochta chun é seo a eagrú agus a réiteach. …

I now have only three minutes to contribute so, unfortunately, I will not be ceding time to the Minister. While it is probably a crossover issue between the Minister and the Minister, Deputy Foley, CAO applicants from 2019 or earlier are seeking to access higher and further education and a solution needs to be found. I firmly believe that solutions can be found. It is about allocation and decisions to be made in that regard. There are ways to achieve this. I sent an email on the matter to the Minister, Deputy Foley…

I welcome the Minister to the first of these sessions. I hope we have many useful exchanges during the course of this Dáil. A briefing was organised yesterday, so to some extent events may have overtaken my question, but not all my concerns were addressed. There is still significant concern that the calculations model will be affected by a school having had low results in the past or by its disadvantaged background. Even gender appears to be a factor. We do not know what the model is. It has not been published. I h…

I did not hear anything from the Minister there that I did not already know. I have had concerns about calculated grades in the past. I recognise the difficult situation and I had numerous conversations with the Minister's predecessor on what should happen next. I have particular concerns around school profiling. My concern is that young adults applying for their place in university will not get it and students who might not fail the leaving certificate otherwise will do so. We have been assured that these statisti…

There is a certain contradiction in that. If the model fails the validation and does not produce the result we expect from a particular demographic or gender, there will have to be adjustments. Grades will either have to go down or go up. That has real implications for students. It really is not good enough. The Minister has not answered my primary question. There is a model. It deserves to be subject to public scrutiny. Why will the Minister not publish the statistical model? It is complex and technical, but there…

That is not the same thing, as the Minister well knows.

On Tuesday evening a Private Members' motion highlighted the fact that we have found it so hard to reopen schools because we have overcrowded classrooms and buildings that are not fit for purpose. The point was not really addressed by either Minister during the debate. What is the Department doing about this, beyond the minor works and adjustment grant? Has it carried out an audit of schools with a disproportionate lack of space for which additional classrooms will need to be built or hired?

As a brief aside, I was just outside with the parents, staff and board of management of Firhouse Educate Together. An illustration of the situation we have found ourselves in over many years is the fact that there has been demographic growth but the Department has been too slow in planning for a new school building. Consequently, that school is being forced to move all the way to Citywest, a choice that is not sustainable for many parents. People are concerned about the sustainability of the school. I ask the Minis…

I welcome the increase in the minor works grant but that will not do it for every school. Not every school can convert a room or make extra space within a classroom. The grant will deal with issues such as hot water also, and that is welcome, but it will not satisfy every need. I believe the Minister knows that. For schools in that position, the undertaking they will have to make in the next few weeks is so enormous that we cannot simply refer to local solutions and so on. There is a need for local solutions but fa…

Among several welcome elements in the roadmap, which includes things that we had called for over time, some have raised huge questions and require significant clarification. One of the biggest is school transport. Some 120,000 children are carried every year by school transport programmes. Among any of the operators I have spoken to there is very little clarity and they have had very little communication on how that will be delivered. There is additional money but it seems to be for reconfiguration and hygiene, the…

I heard Dermot O'Leary of the National Bus and Rail Union, NBRU, on the radio some days ago, shortly before the plan was published. He was speaking about whether he thought any additional capacity could be found and he expressed some scepticism. He is a stakeholder and I would hope that any engagement would have included unions such as the NBRU. He, like most of us, would have anticipated additional capacity. It would seem obvious, so many of us were left scratching our heads when the only thing in the roadmap publ…

I have not disputed that but I asked about capacity. The Minister mentioned everyone who applies, but what if for any reason the capacity must be reduced. The providers, Bus Éireann, taxis and various companies, will have their own considerations. I asked the Minister this question which is what parents want to know. Of course they want to know about safety, where they will be sitting and so on, and the Minister has told us some of that detail, but that is all they know. What I want to know is whether all those chi…

Yes or no?

I hope the Minister of State will not take this in an adversarial way but this is an issue that needs to be resolved. A small number of institutions offer post-primary and further or higher education. They seem to be located in the south east in particular. There is some confusion as to the fact there are guidelines relating to higher and further education, there is also the roadmap and they have different criteria. Institutions are trying to figure out exactly what they should be providing for students from variou…

Record it. It is as simple as that, a Cheann Comhairle.

We had a good debate on Tuesday evening during which we addressed some of the issues that related to the return to school and I will not go into some of them on this occasion. It was a good debate on an important issue related to the funding of education, the pupil-teacher ratio and overcrowded classrooms. I appreciate that Deputies felt the need to protest tonight over speaking time arrangements but I regret that a vote on that motion was the casualty of the protest and that the protest was felt to be more importa…

Through no fault of the Minister's I probably did not leave enough time for her to reply. She is eating into my colleague's time so perhaps she could respond to me in writing. I will let my colleague put his questions.

We have been looking for a roadmap since April, so it is welcome that we now have one. There are, however, deficiencies. Parents of children with special educational needs and those who work in the area, including teachers and special needs assistants, have concerns. I know the Taoiseach has often talked about this issue. I am not here to criticise him but to ask him to fix something in the coming weeks. There is concern that yesterday's circular opened the door to special education teachers being used as substitut…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — schools have been closed for over 130 days and the new school year is due to start in just over four weeks; — the closure of school buildings brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic has had a very negative impact on the education of a generation of Irish children, despite the considerable efforts of parents, teachers and school staff; — this negative impact has been felt particularly severely by vulnerable students, including children with special educational needs, children …