Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach and congratulate him on his appointment. I am looking forward to working with him and with all the other members on addressing the challenges and barriers relating to our education system. I want to say how good our education system is, and I commend all of those involved in education in this country. Our system is the envy of many other countries but, as I have said, there are challenges and barriers we need to address and, I hope, remove.

The Cathaoirleach mentioned special education. We are all contacted on a regular basis about the lack of appropriate school places in our areas for children with additional educational needs. It is about looking at this in order that children can be educated with their siblings in their local communities as much as possible while getting the appropriate education. This is made more difficult by the lack of supports in communities, in our children’s disability network teams, CDNTs, and in primary care.

Another issue raised regularly with me is the lack of proper funding for schools. The capitation grant probably needs to be reviewed. The requests on an ongoing basis for voluntary contributions from parents, which we know are not really voluntary, continue to create problems for many.

I would like us to look at the criteria for how schools are granted DEIS status. I know of a situation where three of the four primary schools in a town have DEIS. It is very difficult to work out the precise criteria that are used.

Every August and September, those of us from rural Ireland are inundated with representations from parents whose children have not got places on school buses to their local schools. Will the review of school transport that took place be implemented? When will it be implemented to ensure that all students are eligible for public transport to their schools?

There are many other issues, including the expansion of Gaelscoileanna, which I am looking forward to teasing out with the members and the witnesses who come before the committee. I wish the Cathaoirleach well in his role, I am looking forward to our work.