Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms. O'Connor, Mr. White and Mr. Irwin for their testimony and for this interesting conversation. There has been some reference to curricular reform. The witnesses will be aware the Minister, Deputy Foley, has indicated she will look at leaving certificate reform. If there was one thing the witnesses would ask in terms of leaving certificate reform to address the concerns raised today, what would it be?

Ms O'Connor mentioned the challenges over the Covid period and we talked about grief and some of those issues. Coming immediately out of Covid, what supports do we need to have in place for September?

I sit on the Oireachtas media committee and had the privilege of listening to those students from Tallaght and Kinsale talking about the online safety and media regulation Bill. It is an important piece of legislation. We are talking about establishing an online safety commissioner as part of the media commission. It will regulate the tech companies. Mr. Irwin, Ms O'Connor and Mr. White might want to express what they want to see in that legislation with regard to the regulation of social media.

Much of the focus has been on the pressure students face, but I am conscious of the pressure staff often face. Students told us the staff may not have a clue about the challenge of social media. Ms O'Connor mentioned Snapchat; I would say a fair number of teachers may not understand what Snapchat is. I was struck by the case of a good school in Carlow where allegations were made that certain things were said. Suddenly, there was a social media frenzy and pile-on that was completely unfair to male teachers in that school. It was appalling and it took off and spread around the world. This is about a responsibility to truth. Will the witnesses talk in that context about the challenges facing teachers?