Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am somebody who was involved in second chance learning so I firmly believe that everybody should get a second, third, fourth or fifth chance to learn. Such learning is embraced in a very positive way and is connected to the confidence piece as well. I know from my experience of working in an estate years ago that there was a very diligent and active neighbourhood worker named Ms Mary English who went into houses drinking tea with and talking to women to try to encourage them to return to education. Her actions were transformative and changed the lives of many of those women. All of the people that she trained 20 years ago are tutors and facilitators themselves. I am very interested in this piece.

Senator Higgins asked about the future procurement of frontier research. I will ask Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, to get back to the Senator about that issue.

Deputy McLoughlin mentioned online abuse. Without question, online abuse is a challenge. We must figure out a way to accept that technology is part of our new society yet allow creativity. Obviously technology is a place where young people are creative but we must deal with the abuse bit. Parents and schools must play their role. Schools have the autonomy to decide whether they want to ban phones or simply not have them in school. One of the elements that I have picked up in primary and secondary schools, whether it is in coding or encouraging more young women to study science, technology, engineering, mathematics, STEM, subjects, is that there is an appetite for the technological aspects of learning. Whether it is Combilift in County Monaghan, where the company is now considering automotive forklifts, or elswhere, one needs the people with the skill set to do those things.

We are moving into that space. We want to intervene effectively to ensure there is no online abuse. To give one example of how young people are responding to it, I came across a young lad at the Young Scientists who is developing a software package that concerns how to spot online abuse - how to use computers to deal with a computer problem. We must follow young people as well. There are no better advocates in terms of ensuring that bullying is not part of the group than young people. They will be the ultimate people who will do that. I am confident that solutions will be found.

The acquisition of land, the extension of schools and the capital plan in the future were all mentioned. We have a ten-year bundle and are looking at €8.4 billion so we will continue to work closely on that. The Chairman spoke about the review of the 16 to 19 plan. One of the things we are doing at the stakeholders meeting is asking what has and has not worked. For example, we have achieved 85% of last year's action plan so much of it has been delivered. We also ask them what the weaknesses were so we are asking that question.

Some other issues that were raised include morale, pay parity, the fact that 50% of teachers are on lower pay and scale in some of the larger classes for younger teachers. It is an issue. I acknowledge that we cannot have a system where teachers do the same job for different levels of pay. There is unfinished business and I want to continue to work with the unions and teachers to ensure we finish that unfinished piece. I know we have an agreement up to the end of 2020 but it is something of which I am conscious. Teaching principals were mentioned and I spoke about that issue. Other issues raised include caretakers, secretaries, special classes in primary and secondary school and the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act. Regarding the DEIS issue, we have, hopefully, identified that the full audit will be complete by the end of March. We will then evaluate the results. There will be a new DEIS system, a system that will be gradual but also more targeted. Certain schools are in DEIS because of geographical considerations but it is a lot more complex so I keep the committee updated about that. Access to further education was mentioned along with the specific issue of apprenticeships in Athy. We must follow up on that.