Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking the time to brief us. Many of my points have already been covered. When one gets to the end of the pile, it has been done. I will merely touch on a few matters.

The SNA is what it says, a special needs assistant. It is an assistant for a child with special needs, not an assistant to clean up the classroom or to do other things. The role of the SNA must be looked at and defined better. With that, we may be able to utilise the services of an SNA for more than one child in the classroom rather than having them cleaning up the classroom. I am sure the Minister will look at that. Fee-paying schools is an issue but we will await the report on that.

The Minister asked for suggestions as to how money could be saved. I am not sure whether this will save money but it should not happen. I refer to the re-employment of retired teachers to supervise examinations. Last year 1,100 retired teachers came back to supervise examinations. It is a scandal. When there are young teachers crying out for jobs, one should not bring retired teachers back into the classroom. That practice should be done away with. The Department should hire the younger teachers and save them leaving the country.

As in the case of the consultants, perhaps an approach should be made to the lecturers about their fees. If we must go into conciliation, the Minister should do so. He should approach them anyway and look at reducing their fees.

Some schools conduct book rental schemes and others do not. Parents are suffering because of the high cost of books.

The Minister mentioned that the student contribution would come to a maximum of €3,000. Is that €3,000 for the year or €3,000 over the programme for Government? Is that the maximum increase there will be or is it merely the maximum for the coming year?

I am glad the Minister will look at school transport. I have come across similar instances of one child going on the bus free and the other not.