Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I completely accept the bona fides of everybody who is here and they have made an important contribution to the discussion. I accept that, in some instances, a reduced timetable is better than expulsion or suspension. Keeping a student within the school system is better than having him or her outside it, especially in the cases of illnesses. As my colleagues stated, data collection is vital and it is important to quantify the needs in order to get the extra supports needed from the Department. It is very difficult for teachers if there are extreme behavioural issues and we have to consider the impact on other children in the classroom. We cannot ignore it and it is an issue for everybody - the whole school community, families and the community in general. Extra supports should certainly be provided. It is regrettable that there is no access to home tuition for children on reduced timetables for a certain time - it should never be for a prolonged period. What are our guests' views on that?

Ms Corr referred to additional resources and training for schools. Both are hugely important. In a lot of cases, teachers and school staff are not equipped to deal with situations. If more investment was put into training at that point, it would yield a better outcome for all of us. Deputy Catherine Martin spoke about parents who were working and have to take their children from school. Many parents may choose to stay at home while their children are young, hoping to get back into the workforce when the children go to school. It is a reasonable expectation but, all of a sudden, it becomes very difficult for them to do this.

Similarly, if children who travel to school by bus have a reduced timetable, there may be no car at home or a parent may have to go to work in the car and it may be extremely difficult for the other parent to collect the child. All of these issues have to be considered. We are hearing conflicting things about guidelines, whether they should be more robust and whether they should be made in collaboration with parents and teachers or whether the school should make the decision. It should be a collaboration in all cases but there should also be an appeals mechanism for parents. If there is a single entity collecting the information and providing the guidelines, which more than likely would be the Department of Education and Skills, there should be a clear appeals mechanism for the parents.