Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh ár n-aíonna uilig. Gabhaimíd buíochas leo as a n-obair ar fad. I echo what others have said on our gratitude to everybody in the sector for shouldering an enormous burden at this time. I have a small involvement as chairperson on the board of management of a small rural primary DEIS school. I have seen over a long period the extra effort made by staff, not just teaching staff, but caretakers, school secretaries and so on. I endorse everything that has been said about the pay equality agenda. I emphasise the word mentioned by Mr. Gillespie, namely, "confidence". This is not just people going in to work hard to make sure everything is done right and, as far as possible, complete whatever changes were needed to reopen and keep the schools open safely. At the same time, morale boosting has to go on as well when working with children with varying levels of comprehension about what needs to be done, and parents. There is an emotional as well as task-based burden involved. I am mindful of that.

Listening to the witnesses, we note that it is the interplay of the fire-fighting that has to go on, backed up by resources from the State and the downstream consequences of longer term challenges. This interplay is not least in the area of pay equality, as the witnesses have said. In terms of a long-term vision for the future, pay equality has been a festering sore. The generation who struggle most to get the money together for a mortgage, if they can get a house, feel an enormous indignation about the differential between the resources being given to them for the same work. Very often, these people are at the stage of their working lives where we depend on the extra energy they might have. Hard questions must be asked about that. We have to look back and ask how this happened, as does everybody who had a responsibility for the misstep in that area. It is not a question of blame but of making sure it does not happen again in the long term when crises come. They will come, because these things are cyclical.

On the issues raised by the witnesses, I note and support what Fórsa and others have said to the effect that if we will talk the language of teachers and school staff being in the front line, then that surely means there needs to be important back-up, not least with the availability of vaccines. We have to protect our key people.

The TUI, among others, have spoke about online learning. I get that we need to make devices and equipment available but I noticed in my interactions with friends working in schools and so on that there is a culture in this country that children in some schools are better able to adapt to the blended, home-based learning environment than others. There is an issue of culture as well as resources. Do the witnesses have any ideas on what might done to push things in a better direction? There is inequality in the inability of certain cohorts to survive in the blended learning, home-based learning environment.

It is not just about whether they have devices or equipment; I am not suggesting the witnesses are saying that.

A couple of days ago I raised with the Minister the upset and annoyance that was felt in fee-charging schools. When the Covid-related payments to enable schools to reopen safely were being allocated there was shock in the fee-paying schools that they were to be excluded. There was a partial concession allowing them to apply for funding on a case-by-case basis. The Minister pointed out what was and what was not given. The perspective I heard from fee-charging schools was that they are not all about rich parents. Many people are making sacrifices to send their children to fee-charging schools. This is a question of children's safety. To borrow that phrase - admittedly in another context - in our Proclamation about cherishing all the children of the nation equally, there should not have been a differential. I heard from some teachers about it. I believe the ASTI is the main union involved for staff in those schools. Did the ASTI take a view of that? Did it hear from its members? Did it make any recommendation on that?