Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask in particular about the financial package that will be available for the reopening of schools. Will it include post-primary further education colleges, which come under Mr. Ó Foghlú's remit and have a roll number as schools?

I will ask my questions in a block if that is okay. Will the financial measures address the digital divide? I am told that approximately 30% of students in the post-primary and further education sectors have no IT connectivity at all. I know from talking to some principals from disadvantaged second level schools that approximately 60% of their students have to access learning via a phone device. Will that be addressed in the financial package?

With regard to teaching and teacher numbers, will all teacher absences be substitutable? Does Mr. Ó Foghlú accept that in a primary school setting, if a teacher is absent in the new scenario we are facing, and without a substitute being immediately available, it would be impossible for that class to be supervised, taught or split into another class, and so without that substitute, the system cannot survive? Will all teacher absences be substitutable, and within that, will jobsharing teachers be able to provide cover? Is that part of the solution?

My last question is on predicted gradings and the fact that the leaving certificate was cancelled due to Covid-19. A high-profile case concerned Finn Robertson in County Waterford. While I do not ask Mr. Ó Foghlú to refer to a particular case, what is the Department doing to address the fact that some students are not eligible for predicted grades because they had been self-taught? This was flagged immediately with Mr. Ó Foghlú's Department and with the then Minister when the predicted grading system was announced. There are students who, because of various different circumstances in their own schools, take higher level or whatever level subjects themselves, are now suddenly being told they are not eligible for predicted grades. Will Mr. Ó Foghlú also answer that question please?