On the continuation of work, whether it is tendering within the Department, the building unit in Tullamore or land procurement, that work is ongoing. Any work we can do while complying with social distancing continues. Regarding the specific issues the Deputy raised, once construction is allowed again we will be in a position to move on a number of projects, but I will refer back to the Deputy directly on those two matters. As regards the food parcels, I acknowledge the work of An Post coming on board with this and…

I thank the Deputy for raising this question and for his ongoing engagement on these issues. He is correct that when the first announcement was made the school bus operators were paid 100% and after the extension of the closure they were paid 50%. I have had discussions with officials about this and it is only right that bus operators be paid up to the end of term, irrespective of schools opening or not. That is only right and I wish to put that on record. Regarding refunds, many parents have paid for school transp…

That is still the case. If there is a further update on that I will refer back directly to the Deputy.

I thank Deputy Burke for the issues he has raised and also the point about the leaving certificate fee. I am announcing today the extension of the late payment for the leaving certificate fee until after the leaving certificate exams. I take the Deputy's point on the difficulties some families will experience and are experiencing with financial pressures. This has been an item at nearly every one of our management board meetings in the last couple of weeks and we will continue to have that discussion. If there is a…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. I concur with her introductory comments regarding front-line workers. If I do not get through all of this, I will ask for a direct response to be organised for her. The postponement of the leaving certificate was the first issue raised. One of the things we attempted to do was to bring clarity around whether it was happening in June or not. The postponing of the leaving certificate until the end of July was both an indication and a commitment that we were going to work towards maki…

I thank the Deputy for raising a number of issues. Let us be very clear on the date. He is correct in what he says about a public forum on Tuesday night. What I said exactly was that the provisional date we were looking at was 29 July and I said I would confirm that in a couple of days. It has been a couple of days, so I confirm in the House tonight that 29 July is the start date. The Deputy asked a really important question about the timetabling and the sequence of timetabling now to try to work through the wider …

The Deputy expanded on a couple of major points, particularly the leaving certificate. He may have entered into dealing with where we need to go with the leaving certificate in the future in terms of the leaving certificate review. I have no doubt he will add to that debate when it arises. There is no doubt that future leaving certificates will have to be different from those in the past because this debate is about the class of 2021 as well as the class of 2020. Those students are losing out on class time with the…

It does not appear to be enough but how many of those 160 students are leaving certificate students?

That school will have to work on the basis that some students will have access to the technology but there could be unique situations whereby none of the students have access to it.

The Deputy knows the details so maybe the best thing would be for him to send me on the specific details of that school and I would be happy to respond.

The plan we are working on is to have the leaving certificate examinations this year. They have been postponed. I take the points on pressure and anxiety. That is why I stated earlier that central to any decision will be the well-being and health, including mental health, of every single one of the 61,000 young people in this year's leaving certificate class. That is why we are putting the support systems in place. There is, however, international evidence of different countries doing different things. We are monit…

I referred to anxiety. The Deputy raised the issue of cancellations in some countries. He mentioned France and Great Britain. We are also looking at examples of where countries are going ahead with exams, including Germany and South Korea. We are looking at international evidence. We are not in the same position as Britain in the context of how it deals with its GCSEs or A levels. It operates over a longer period. That is resulting in difficulties for it also, as I have learned from my contact with some of my Briti…

Yes, there were about seven or eight questions asked. We will ensure the Deputy gets a note on each of those important issues. I will reiterate a message that I have already stated publicly to private operators and accommodation providers - they should consider the difficulties that families are experiencing. If families have paid deposits or advances up to the end of the term, I would ask the providers to do the right thing and pay back that money, to which the students are rightfully entitled. In the first instan…

I thank both Deputies for raising these important matters. On Deputy Collins's point on clarity around practicals and the leaving certificate vocational programme, LCVP, those issues are being prioritised at the advisory group forum. They were discussed on Friday, there is another meeting tomorrow, and there will be biweekly meetings in the weeks ahead. We need to get more clarity on the practicals. The Deputy is correct that some artwork is still in the schools and there are issues around construction studies, woo…

Regarding private providers, all I will do today is appeal to them to use their judgment and do the right thing in regard to paying back money that is owed to these third level students. In the first instance, I ask the students to engage with the provider. The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 provides for recourse as well. It is difficult, and there is no excuse for that not happening. I make that appeal once again. The Deputy asked about engagement with the University of Limerick. The Secretary General …

The public gets frightened when we mention a task force, and sometimes it is set up to not do work. There has been very strong engagement between the Departments. For example, the Department is also engaging with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. The HSE is putting facilities in place to allow for the isolation of individuals if they are required to self-isolate. Nobody will be left out. I assure Deputy Connolly that I will have one of my officials make direct contact with the Deputy to upda…

I have said to the Deputy that I will have one of the officials contact her directly to link in and to update on what has been done. There has been quite a considerable amount of work done at an interdepartmental level. If there are other gaps that we can help to work on then we would be happy to do that.

No. It was just as I have said. I thank Deputy Connolly.

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders— (1) the Whips and other nominees shall appoint sixteen members to the Select Committee standing established under Standing Order 131 (which shall be called the Standing Order 131 Select Committee); (2) a Minister or Minister of State shall announce the names of the members appointed under paragraph (1) for the information of the Dáil on the first sitting day of the Dáil following their appointment; (3) Standing Order 104(2) will not apply in the case of thi…

I move: That– (1) the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business are amended with immediate effect— ( a ) by the adoption of the following new Standing Order: '118A. (1) There shall stand established, following the reassembly of the Dáil subsequent to a General Election, a Committee, which shall be called the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform (hereinafter referred to in this Standing Order as "the Committee"). (2) The functions of the Committee shall be to— ( a ) consider matters of proc…