Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everybody here this morning. Based on the contributions we have heard so far, and I am conscious we are hearing only half of the story, it clearly indicates that we have a serious problem. Deputy Byrne said the policy of the Minister is very clear on what should happen, but the reality of what is happening is quite different. Based on the contributions I have heard so far, there seem to be very few guidelines on how schools are meant to act on reduced timetables. We do not seem to know the scale of the problem, which is difficult to understand. I am conscious that fingers are being pointed at schools and that we have not heard all of the contributions. We need to hear their side of the story on whether they have the infrastructure and machinery available to deal with the situation properly. This is where the Department comes in, to make sure schools in all sectors are properly resourced to deal with situations such as this. It is important that we do not lose sight of this point.

From the contributions we have heard so far, this seems to be a serious problem. There seems to be confusion as to when reduced hours are implemented, why they are being implemented, how long they are implemented for, what happens when a child is on reduced hours, who looks after the child and what is that person meant to be doing. From the contributions we have heard so far, there seem to be very few guidelines and little direction. I look forward to hearing the perspective and opinions of teachers and schools so that, I hope, at the end of all this we can put our heads together and get a clear direction on how we tackle the issue to the satisfaction of all concerned.