Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for that suggestion. Obviously we would like to bring in student representatives for a future meeting, as we would like to bring in representatives of special needs assistants, SNAs. I thank the Deputy. I would just like to make a point before we go to the next speaker, Deputy Gannon, about how people are selected. We have a secretariat which is guided by a working group comprised of representatives of everybody here, including representatives of Deputy Gannon. Ultimately, decisions are made by the entire committee in our sessions. I appreciate that there is disappointment that representatives of SNAs were not able to come in today. I very much appreciate Deputy Matthews's suggestion about bringing in representatives of students. That will be considered and hopefully we will be able to do so at a later date.

I would just make the point to Deputy Gannon that if he has any suggestions, unlike people on Twitter, he is elected to this House, sitting in this Chamber and on this committee. I have engaged with every member of this committee and every Member of the Dáil who wishes to make a proposal to the best of my ability. If the Deputy wishes to make a proposal that Fórsa come in on behalf of SNAs, that anybody else come in on the behalf of SNAs, or that Fórsa come in on behalf of anybody else, I would greatly welcome that suggestion. The Deputy does not have to go on Twitter to make the point. He could make it to me personally and could have made it to me personally. He did not, for whatever reason. As a member of this committee, the Deputy will also appreciate how limited we are in terms of the number of sessions we can have. We have gone from two sessions to six. I have expressed the view that we would like to have more sessions. The Deputy has a representative on the Business Committee to make that point for us. The Deputy is also very aware of how limited we are in terms of the number of people we can get in. It is not like normal times. There are limitations and we are very confined in the number of groups we can bring in on a given day. We cannot have a session that goes on all day. I do not wish to take up any more time but I would just make the point that my door is always open to the Deputy, as it is to any member of this committee, for any suggestions. We do have a procedure. There is a meeting on Friday morning, there is a working group, and ultimately the work programme is agreed by all members of the committee.