Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and all of the guests today. As they will be aware, we have had quite extensive contributions from witnesses in previous weeks as well. I am interested to know if the witnesses have listened to those contributions and if they feel there are additional things we should be especially aware of coming out of today, which need to be a focus within a report and for us to get down to the granular detail of it.

Following on from Senator Flynn, with whom I sit on the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community committee and of which she is the Chair, what is interesting is we on that committee have done some training, facilitated by the Chair, on our own biases. I wonder if teachers across the board are doing that. In any workplace, that needs to be a feature, but here we are concerned with the education system. Much of what happens in schools is either a reflection of what is going on in the wider society or that the school system is not set up in a way which reflects the wider society. If biases exist in the adult world, they are likely to be replicated in the child's world. If they are not and if there is more happening in the schools, it is likely the school is not set up in a way which reflects adult society. Neither of those things is the correct approach.

With regard to respect for diversity and promoting diversity, that was a really interesting piece of research Dr. Foody had undertaken. What would that look like? I note the comments on practising Catholics in the witnesses' opening statement, which has not come up previously. What could be changed to make all of our schools more accommodating of those from different religious backgrounds?

It is concerning overall that schools are struggling to implement a plan. I want to put that on the record. It is concerning for us all. It is not just about identifying what more we can do and what changes in policy need to happen around bullying. However, the fundamental question is why are we failing in the education system even to put into place a plan which is there.