Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone to the second public session of the committee. I have received apologies from Senator Mark Wall, who has been ill for the last couple of weeks. We wish him well.

Before we begin, I will read some formal notices, starting with the Covid-19 code of conduct. The Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, and the Cathaoirleach, Senator Mark Daly, published a Covid-19 code of conduct for the parliamentary community in May. Members, staff and visitors are requested to continue to be vigilant and to follow public health advice on preventing the spread of Covid-19 infection so we can manage the risk for ourselves and for others who are more vulnerable, including colleagues and their family members who may be elderly and-or have underlying health conditions. All members of the parliamentary community and visitors are strongly encouraged to wear face masks – not visors – in busy or crowded locations in the Leinster House complex. Medical grade FFP2 masks should be worn whenever recommended by the public health advice and should be worn for ten days after diagnosis of Covid-19. This will help to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among the parliamentary community. I ask for everyone's full co-operation in this regard.

On privilege, I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings. I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who attempts to participate from outside the parliamentary precincts will be asked to leave.

The first item on our agenda concerns the minutes of our previous meetings, which the members will have received on MS Teams. Are the minutes of our meetings on 16 June, 22 June and 28 June agreed? Agreed.

I warmly welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, who has special responsibility for special education and inclusion, and officials from the Department of Education. The committee appreciates the Minister of State taking the time to come before us this morning while preparations are under way for the Committee and Remaining Stages of the Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Bill 2022 in the Dáil tomorrow. The Bill will allow the Minister for Education to direct schools to provide places in special classes to children with special educational needs, SEN, a topic very relevant to this committee. In our second session this morning, we will hear from representatives of the teaching unions, namely the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, ASTI.

Before we hear from the Minister of State, I propose that we publish her opening statement on the committee's website. Is that agreed? Agreed. I suggest that the Minister of State should make her opening statement for ten minutes, following which we will have questions and comments from each member, limited initially to three minutes. If we have time remaining, members can come back in. Our session today is for one hour. It was meant to be for one and a half hours, but unfortunately the Minister of State is caught for time in the context of the preparation of the legislation. I thank her for taking the time to attend. We felt it was important that she came into this committee prior to the legislation being enacted. I invite her now to make her opening statement.