Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I deeply appreciate his statement and I believe they will be as appropriate as they can be as well. I want to acknowledge and express my appreciation for the great interest the committee has taken in this issue. That helps and makes a difference, and it supports their movement towards these kinds of improvements.

I thank Deputy Funchion for asking about the school completion programme. To answer the question on the amount that has been allocated for 2018, as in 2017, it is the same amount of money that is being allocated, namely, €24.7 million. It is important to note the reasons for maintaining that investment at €24.7 million. As we are all aware, a reform of the programme is required. I have been working very closely with the Tusla executive, the board, my officials and effectively all the main stakeholders on examining the best way to reform. We had an event in Farmleigh at which we brought all the key stakeholders together. We are analysing that. I am getting more information from Tusla. I am aware that the school completion co-ordinators particularly as well as project workers and others who work on the programme are deeply concerned about the future, particularly into 2019. There is a sense of urgency to identify the way we will move forward in terms of governance, human resources and also the programmes they put in place. While I knew that we would be examining that, we make a similar investment in 2018. When recommendations are made to me and decisions made, and I ask for this information regularly from officials, we will be in a better position to identify whether we require increases and what those will be for 2019. I will be passionate and committed to ensuring that we have those increases for 2019.