Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could write books on mobile phones; I have children myself. Mr. McGorman, you spoke about the supports in primary schools compared to secondary. That is something I have raised with the Minister here on numerous occasions. I will give the example of the primary school where my own children go, St. Aidan's Primary School in Enniscorthy, where there are up to 1,000 pupils. They have a principal and the vice principals are kind of teaching; there is no walking vice principal in that size of a school. When you go to a secondary school, where there could be 350 students, there is a principal and a walking vice principal. What is needed to get the larger primary schools the same services as the secondary schools? I mean no disrespect to the secondary schools, they need them and deserve them, but so do primary schools. As you said, specifically in the senior cycle in primary schools, they are now having similar issues and problems that secondary schools had a number of years ago, in that children are now having anxiety problems and are facing issues in life, whether it involves mobile phones or whatever. They are having these problems at a younger age.