I thank both Deputies for their contributions. If we went with last year's July provision, we could announce it and everything would be out there. The reason there has been a delay is because we are incorporating two other Departments, the Departments of Health and Children and Youth Affairs on the disadvantaged side. Deputies can tell their constituents that children with severe and profound intellectual disabilities will qualify. Children who were eligible for July provision last year will qualify again this year…

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Chathaoirleach Gníomhach as a cheapachán úr.

Níl an gown air go fóill.

Gabhaim buíochas le Baill an Tí as ucht a dtiomantais maidir leis na rudaí a bhí ag croílár na díospóireachta ó thaobh an oideachais thar na míonna agus na laethanta a chuaigh thart. Tá na rudaí sin iontach tábhachtach. Bhí stádas a dtodhchaí neamhchinnte ach ba é sin an bealach a bhí romhainn. Táim fíorbhuíoch de na páirtithe leasmhara san earnáil oideachais as an chuidiú a bhfuair mé uathu. Bhí siad ag obair go dian. Táim ag tagairt ach go háirithe d'fhoirne uilig na mbunscoileanna, na meánscoileanna agus na n-ol…

Regarding Deputy Lahart's question about Scoil Naomh Pádraig, the system in place has not changed because of Covid-19 because it was based on attendance on 30 September of the previous year. The school has an opportunity to appeal in June with regard to progression and potential around progression in terms of numbers for next year to see whether it meets the criteria. If it meets the criteria by a particular date at the start of the school year in the first term, we will take that into consideration. It does come a…

I thank the Deputy for making direct contact with me on these issues as well. There is momentum now with the technological university process for the south east. There will be no question mark around the momentum in terms of the response at official level and at a financial level as well. We want to get the south east on the same plane as Technology University Dublin, Munster Technological University, the Connacht-Ulster alliance and the Limerick-Athlone alliance. There is funding already provided for those process…

To be clear in regard to the public commentary around schools reopening, if the current health guidelines remain as they are we will be facing a partial reopening. If the Deputy had listened carefully to what I said in my public commentary, he would have noted that I said I am working with my officials and the public health officials in the Department of Health, who are learning all the time from the European and international experience, and I am looking at the different advice and monitoring it. I will state publ…

That is not true. There is ongoing communication.

I would like to respond to that. If we do not have the advice, the guidelines or the instruction, I am not going to go back to principals with a half story. Next week we will have the full guidance and the publication.

There are, and it is wrong to say that there is no communication with schools. The schools and school representative bodies are in constant engagement. What the Deputy said is not true because there is engagement. What I am saying here very clearly is that we will not be in a position to say what the end of August and start of September will look like until next Friday.

I am glad to hear the Deputy and others are meeting collectively with both presidents. I take this opportunity to acknowledge their individual roles in bringing it to this stage. They are in the process of preparing an application this year even amid all the uncertainty, difficulties and challenges we have at the moment. As the Deputy knows, there have been roadblocks and challenges with the process in the south east. The Deputy lives in the south east and he knows about the desire for a university among the commun…

I can certainly ask my officials.

Beidh mé sásta é sin a dhéanamh.

Congratulations to Deputy Dillon on his election and on his maiden speech today. In his last point, he referenced clarity concerning the leaving certificate. The school alignment process has started and we have set up the portal, which will be going live between the executive office and the Department and the schools. We are looking to trigger that on Monday so the schools can start feeding back information. There has been, therefore, a great degree of momentum at the school alignment level, although there is still…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a cheiste. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis as a bheith tofa. Guím ádh mór air sa ról úr atá aige. Is dualgas agus onóir mhór é a bheith tofa mar Theachta Dála. I want to take the Deputy back to his first point around the €750 billion fund. We are now working in that world of billions. One of the things I believe is central to any deliberation around funding and that collective response from Europe is to ensure that, at its heart, is how we tackle educational disadvantage and how …

I will work my way backwards. The good news is that over the past few weeks with what has happened between Department of Education and Skills officials and the Department of Health there has been a sea change on a summer programme. We are looking at the school inclusion model which we all want to work towards for children who need physiotherapy, occupational therapy or speech and language therapy. The Deputy is right there are two different Departments working separately. There has, however, been a sea change. We a…

I reassure the Deputy that bus transportation is a key factor in our deliberations as to what the end of August and September will look like. We are looking at the practicalities of that for the summer programme as well. The feedback from the teachers and the teacher representative bodies is that they are looking at everything. They are looking at the set-up in the morning and what will be needed in terms of hygiene and sanitisers, and all sorts of criteria and instructions for training and guidance for teachers. I…

The answer to the question is "Yes". There most definitely will be. It will be different from previous July provisions because it will not only be exclusive to autism. We are widening it out. We have upwards of 8,000 students in our autism spectrum disorder classes. We have 8,000 students in special schools. That is 16,000 straight away. We want to add to that number. We want to look at disadvantage and school completion programmes. We talked about that two weeks ago when we engaged on this issue. The answer is cle…

We will be looking next week at contacting the schools and we are looking to start at the beginning of July.

I am reluctant to give a picture of what this is going to look like because we are not announcing it formally until next week. I am going to bring a memorandum to Cabinet and we are going to publish the guidelines. I will offer two examples in terms of disadvantage. We are looking at school completion. This will involve targeted disadvantage to try to get some form of school completion continued. We are also looking at literacy and numeracy in DEIS schools. At the moment only 70 schools do the summer programme in l…