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

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their attendance. I will go through a few issues and get their comments on them.

The issue of two-tier pay and pay equality is coming up regularly within schools and the Minister may wish to make reference to that.

The Minister of State referred to medical-grade face coverings for SNAs but while schools are trying to power their way through this pandemic, any sort of tension within the system needs to be resolved, and I am wondering whether a further comment could be made on that.

On the pupil-teacher ratio, PTR, decrease being immediately transferable to DEIS schools, I appreciate the Minister said this was debatable, that she was alive to the issue and wants to resolve it but is it not the case that any PTR decrease should automatically be transferred to these schools? Is that not desirable for the future? It should not depend on a fund or how well-meaning the Minister is.

If we were to go back into a crisis lockdown, which none of us wants but which none of us can predict, what is the capacity of the system to respond to that in terms of remote learning and the digital divide? Some principals I have been talking to said that 60% of their students are working off smartphones. Does the Minister feel we are in a position if we were to go back into lockdown to respond to that?

I am happy with the Minister of State's comments on school places for children with autism because there has been an issue in my constituency of parents applying to between 14 and 17 different schools to get a place for their child. She may wish to elaborate on that issue as well because it is quite a big one in the area I represent. She briefly mentioned the potential for further debate on the issue of autism and how we can deal with it into the future and, therefore, I would appreciate further comment on that.