Mr. Hugh O'Reilly-Fitzgerald:

I thank my colleagues, Niamh Bakker, Kate Lehane and Kate Lancaster-Ryan for their excellent presentations of some of our key findings from the survey.

The purpose of this survey was to hear directly from young people about the way in which they are taught and how they learn in school. We had a huge response rate, from 3,242 young people, but we want to go further. We want our voice to make a difference in the classroom. We want the key messages from the research to be listened to and taken on board by schools and teachers, to make an impact beyond the survey and contribute to a broader discussion about the education system in Ireland. We are delighted that several positive developments have followed from the report of the survey, including the ongoing co-operation between the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills to include the voice of children in the school inspection process. Another exciting opportunity is that members of the Comhairle na nÓg national executive have been invited to present at the inspectors' conference in early 2018. A letter and infographic poster has been sent to all participating schools summarising the report's key findings. We will have the opportunity to report the work on this survey and show the video of the launch to delegates at Dáil na nÓg on 6 December.

I thank everyone here for listening and I urge them to read the full report which contains additional information about the experience of young people in Irish classrooms and schools.

We ask members to take note of the key findings of our research and to look for ways to bring them into their decision-making processes. The report is currently available on the Comhairle na nÓg website and we hope members will all join us in spreading the word by linking with us on social media and using the hashtag #HowWasSchool. Our contact details can also be found on the last page of our presentation. We thank members very much for listening.