Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That concern is explicitly referenced in the mandate of the NCCA. The existing arrangement allows for a policy statement along with the delivery of the programme.

As the Deputy said, the programme must still be delivered. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, must examine it. There are concerns about whether it is being delivered to the standard we want. Apart from the ethos question, there are concerns about it being outsourced to groups in that we do not know what their programme is. It is not teacher led. There are concerns about the educational standards in this area generally as well as the ethos, but all those issues are being examined. While there is an urgency about this matter, and the committee's work will be a valuable input into this, we have to get it right also. I appreciate the work the committee is doing by having consultations. It will clearly inform the NCCA in the way it develops a new specification. It will also deal with the issue that the committee raised.