Less than one minute. Let me be clear - we have an inclusive educational model. It is not just an urban issue or a rural issue. In my town of Letterkenny, I believe that one of the primary schools has 38 nationalities. It has all ethnicities from around the world. It is a global school. When I attended an event, one of the students summarised the school by saying that it was an international school steeped in the history of Letterkenny. We have something really good going on in this country in terms of inclusivenes…

The Deputy is correct in saying that the alignment process has started in terms of estimating grades. There is daily interaction between teachers, teaching colleagues, deputy principals and principals so that work will continue. The executive office that has been set up in the Department is up and running. We have an independent monitoring group chaired by Dr. Áine Lawlor. There are a lot of checks and balances in there. I know we will hear different examples and anecdotes but the general feedback I am getting is o…

The cost of the State indemnification will be dealt with by the Office of the Attorney General. Teachers are indemnified. That has been guaranteed. A Cabinet decision provides for indemnification to protect teachers in this process. Whatever costs arise will be borne by the State.

I acknowledge the Sherkin Island community. I have visited the island twice. I commend the community on its creative and innovative approach to issues, including its involvement with DCU on an art project. A great example is Glenroe national school in Limerick which is looking to open up in September. There is nothing to say a school cannot open again in the future. I have confidence from looking around my own county at places like Arranmore where there are two primary schools and a secondary school and nearly 50 s…

I am sorry. I thought I had the whole time for myself.

We will do that.

It is like closing time. I have a short window here. The Deputy is right. Schools need to know the picture. That is why I will bring a memo to Cabinet next Friday with that picture, not just for schools reopening in late August and early September but in regard to children with special educational needs and disadvantage. I know there is a big debate about the 2 m and 1 m restrictions and all of that. We all live in the real world in terms of what a junior or senior infants class looks like. If we expect children in…

On Down's syndrome, services will not be exclusive to autism. We will widen the programme out. The most important word for parents is choice. If they want education provided at home, it is possible to explore whether we can get a tutor or teacher to do that. We can also consider whether it is possible to open a school. The most important word from the point of view of a tutor, SNA and teacher is voluntary. One of the positive aspects of the July provision was that it was always voluntary and that is why it worked.

We will make formal contact with schools next week. The memo I will bring to Government at the end of next week will be a comprehensive guideline for schools and parents to let them know what options are available to them. I want to acknowledge the INTO, which has been very proactive on this. I have spoken to Mr. John Boyle a number of times. It is reaching out to its schools and is doing great work.

Regarding the Connacht-Ulster alliance, we now have GMIT, Sligo and Letterkenny in agreement on where they want to be, which is to have an application ready for quarter 4. I will not give a timeline after that because there is toing and froing in that process.

If we are getting applications in towards the end of 2020, we are looking at 2021. I will not give a time, but that is not being overly ambitious because 2021 is 12 months to run then and we will keep the momentum going there. I feel the Deputy's pain on the retention of teachers. It is such a difficult time. Principals and boards of management put in so much energy in trying to-----

I ask the Deputy to send me the detail on Termon national school and I will be happy to follow up.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle agus leis na Teachtaí uilig atá i láthair linn arís inniu chun an t-ábhar oideachais a phlé agus an díospóireacht iontach tábhachtach seo a bheith againn anois. I am happy to be in the House again to provide a further update on our work programme. I want to focus on three particular areas, namely, the leaving certificate and preparations for the calculated grades system, the planning under way for reopening the education and training sector, particularly schools, and the de…

There is a range of them and I will not get through them all, but I will ensure that Deputies will get individual responses and answers back to them. Deputy Ó Laoghaire raised a specific individual case and I will ensure that is replied to. The Deputy also has concerns around how the calculated grade process will work. The school-calculated grade is the primary process in determining the results of the individual students. That pressure is not singularly on the teacher. He or she will have to sit down with his or h…

I thank Deputy Feighan for raising the question and he is happy with the answer he received but I want to reassure him that the alignment process and all the detail around calculated grades is very technical. A lot of technical work went into it over the last week. Right up until today we have been working hard on it. Clarification around that will be published tomorrow. Deputy Carroll MacNeill asked about the issue of safety. That is at the heart of all of our deliberations. She is correct in pointing out that the…

I thank the Deputy and join him in acknowledging the great innovative and creative work that is going on through distance learning. Obviously, it is not sustainable in the long run. The Deputy referred to how third level institutions have responded to this crisis. It has been incredible to watch the processes to continue learning remotely and to do examinations remotely as well. Within that there are gaps relating to technological inequity as well. The Deputy is correct that many students rely on hospitality and su…

I thank the Deputy and take his points regarding his concerns about the new model of calculated grades. The Deputy raised the specific issue of school teacher allocation. We got the relevant information in the office today and I have asked for an inspector to make contact with the school. As the Deputy correctly pointed out, though, it is an independent process. One of the rigid features of the teacher allocation model is that it is based on numbers. There has to be a threshold. The Deputy's wider proposal of depar…

I will correspond with him concerning teaching courses.

I am glad the Deputy raised that school again. I raised it last week as well. I have great memories of my visits there. It was involved in the P-TECH project. It was during an aside conversation with one of the teachers that I was told about that progression. The teacher spoke about the progression not just to university but to further education and training and apprenticeships. They are doing this year-on-year. I have made clear to my officials that all of the investment we are putting into disadvantaged schools a…

That is the piece of work in which we are currently engaged. The post-primary stakeholders have been asked to make submissions. The majority of them have already done so. Those submissions raise queries in regard to what schools will look like in September under current health guidelines. The current NPHET distance requirement of 2 m does not allow for 30 students per classroom. We are also looking at how we make the classroom work for the students, how we make it work from a learning point of view, how we make it …