On Thursday last, I raised an issue with the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Josepha Madigan, who referred me to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Some 23,000 artists and freelance technicians who make their work in the arts will not be able to return to work any time soon because their jobs require crowds, which present a danger. They will not be unemployed, however. Is it possible to have a particular pandemic payment for artists or to extend the pandemic payment …

If possible, I will ask for a question and answer approach and for the Minister to be brief. Obviously, some questions will require more substantial answers than others. It was not my intention to return to the issue of calculated grades, but it is difficult to remove ourselves from it. I was struck by the Minister's opening remarks when he stated: The estimated mark [that a student will receive] is informed by a teacher's professional judgment and available evidence can be used to support the estimation of a mark.…

I am still a little bit confused as to how that would be taken in with the alignment process. One of the big inequalities in education is overcrowding in classrooms. On average, there are 26 students per classroom, which is one of the higher averages in the EU. One in five students are in classrooms of 30 students or more. The Minister's constituency has some of the highest pupil-teacher-ratios in the country. At any time, this is unfair. At a time of public health crisis, it is dangerous. How can we confront overc…

We have talked about this year's sixth year cohort having had an experience unlike any other. Arguably, the class of 2021 will have an even more unfair experience than any other. This year's fifth year cohort has lost a substantial amount of its fifth year schooling and they will be entering sixth year in an entirely new world. We do not yet know what that will look like. What is the plan for the fifth year cohort moving into sixth year and can it be implemented quickly to ensure that the anxiety and stress experie…

I would argue that it is a vital piece of work which we really need to see, probably before the break for the summer. Career guidance counselling, which really works as emotional support in most schools, is an absolutely vital function. For the longest period of time, it has been completely underfunded and, I would argue, underappreciated. When there was talk of proceeding with the leaving certificate examinations and bringing students back for two weeks beforehand, anybody who has been in an education setting reco…

One of those extra allocations of money will have to be for a school book scheme. A lot of conversation is happening around the digital divide and the quest to get iPads and laptops into students' hands. What has happened over the past couple of months is that schools have given out books to students and a lot of those books will not be coming back. We need to look at how we can get some of those books back into schools, which will require investment. My final point is one I mentioned last week. I want to be constr…

As Ireland emerges from this crisis, we are going to need our arts community more than ever. When the time comes that we can gather in groups with our friends or families it will be our artists, through their music, drama and artistic content, that will be the focal point of that much needed and much longed-for gathering. We are going to rely on our artists to help us laugh again. Undoubtedly, when the time comes that we can honour and pay homage to our front-line workers and those who have served us during this ti…

I am thinking about the actual guidelines about how theatres can actually open.

I feel that we will need some physical guidelines from the Department on how theatres can open. I will move on to artists' payments. We have accepted that €203 in unemployment benefit is not enough for a person to live off. We have already crossed that Rubicon. According to the 2016 census, some 23,000 people make their living from art, including artists and the freelance technicians associated with them. They will be one of the last groups of people to come back to normality and yet there will be an expectation fo…

Does the Department envision providing capital grants that will enable artistic spaces to open? I am thinking particularly of community spaces which will not be able to fund many of the requirements to enhance safe social distancing measures.

I am conscious of the Minister's statement that exceptional students in disadvantaged schools will not be disadvantaged. Whereas students performing normally in fee-paying schools or other schools will be grand, it is only the exceptional students in disadvantaged schools who will not be put out. That seems like an inherent disadvantage to me. Something you learn when you grow up in a working-class house is that somehow poverty is your fault. You work hard in school. You work hard helping with your siblings and sup…

I am becoming increasingly worried that the pursuance of the leaving certificate almost at all costs is becoming something akin to the great Dunkirk moment in our response regarding how we demonstrate our resilience or overcome adversity in the face of this pandemic, that we will do it regardless and get through it. With every day and week that passes, that window where we can present a viable alternative seems to be closing. One of the reasons I am growing more concerned about this is that with every phone call I …

A DEIS school of 160 pupils can only buy three devices. That does not seem like it will be enough, does it? More than 90% of students in such a school will need a device. It is just not enough.

There are 25.

That is not ideal.

I will get straight into my questions. I have five questions and if there is time at the end after the answers you might come back to me again, a Cheann Comhairle. What is the process for reassessment of social welfare rates in one-parent families in scenarios where one parent has stopped paying maintenance? I am asking the question given that the family courts are not hearing maintenance cases during the pandemic. Will the Department launch a public awareness campaign informing the public of the changes which have…

On behalf of the Social Democrats I extend deepest sympathies to those who have lost their lives through Covid-19 and our endless thanks to those who continue to put themselves in the front line and in harm's way. It is often said that a crisis makes us focus on what is really important. This crisis has shown us that it is not full employment alone that we must crave. The focus must be on the nature of our work. It must be secure and pay appropriately. The crisis has shown us what work we cannot live without, waste…

It is important to recognise that this crisis will impact, first and foremost, those who have been made vulnerable by our system. Such people include those who are already sick, those without a safe home or any home at all and those who are in direct provision or overcrowded Traveller accommodation. People working in hospitals, providing essential care and cleaning services will be among the first affected, as will those who are trying to protect and provide for their families in situations of economic precariousne…

As this is my maiden speech, it is customary for me to thank the people of Dublin Central who saw fit to send me here. I send them the warmest thanks. It will be through work done in the Chamber and outside it that I hope to validate the trust they placed in me. I am happy that the first speech I get to make in the Chamber concerns the EU and our relationship with it. Like many Deputies, I am a supporter of our position within the EU. Since we joined in 1973, we have become a fundamentally different, and in many wa…