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

I know the Department, the Minister and the Minister of State will join me and other members of the committee in thanking and congratulating school communities around the country. Those communities came out of the traumatic period of the pandemic and all the challenges that had to be overcome in that regard and are now embracing the new challenge of thousands of children without English as a first language falling into their care. Those children are suffering from all sorts of trauma as a result of what they have witnessed and where they have come from as they settle into a new environment. They have concerns about their family members at home. The teaching profession and those who work in schools, including SNAs, secretaries, caretakers and boards of management, have stepped up to welcome those thousands of students to their schools. We totally accept it was never going to be perfect. There were always going to be teething problems. However, there are a number of issues. It has come to my notice, for example, that in certain circumstances a child may be in a school for a number of weeks and with very short notice, the student and his or her family may be relocated to another part of the country. A number of families were going to schools in my constituency and with short notice were moved to Youghal. I understand these things have to happen and that in an emergency scenario not everything is going to be done perfectly. Will the Minister speak to how such situations are communicated and managed? How is a school informed of those sorts of situations?

A particular young person in the neighbouring constituency of Fingal has special educational needs and is utilising the available resources in a school setting. The change of location for that young person is going to be even more challenging as they move from one setting to another. What communications are the different agencies having about the individual needs of children when they are being moved from one part of the country to another? What kind of communication takes place with the school and the education partners? Does special educational need come into that discussion? We previously thought that the child and the family may be moved elsewhere. Should we reconsider that?

I hope my next point does not come across as unfair but I feel strongly about this issue, as the Minister will be aware. A Ukrainian child who is now trying to access a secondary school place will be disadvantaged by the fact that certain schools retain 25% of their intake for the children and grandchildren of past pupils. A Ukrainian is very unlikely to have a parent or grandparent who attended a secondary school in a locality in Ireland. Does that not again expose how unfair that provision is?