Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The reason I chose the education committee as a top priority is because education is such a big issue in my constituency of Dublin West and nationally. Education is of huge significance in every aspect of life. I have experience of teaching in an area of what is called disadvantage and of teaching students with additional needs. As a teacher and a parent, I would like to bring this experience to bear.

Ireland has among the lowest spends on education in the OECD. We should not fool ourselves or clap ourselves on the back regarding our education system. There are massive deficits. We have fallen below the OECD average by approximately 8%, and spending fell dramatically between 2015 and 2021. Education was particularly gutted during the financial crash. Certainly, in my area we lost hundreds of teachers and have not made up that deficit. This must be a priority for the Government and for the education committee to bring home, particularly since the population has risen dramatically.

As a teacher, I have attended ASTI conferences and heard about some of the issues that affect teachers. One of those issues is leaving certificate reform. The Government seems hell bent on coercing teachers to accept what is being foisted on them.

I am due to speak in the Dáil on Gaza. In case I am not here when we are discussing the work programme, the absolute priority, and I do not think it is controversial, must be for us to convene an urgent session on additional needs education. We spent yesterday discussing special education, autism, neurodivergence and disabled children being left behind. Because the school year is running down fast, this has to be an urgent issue. What format this will take I do not know, but I would have thought we would need the Ministers to come before the committee. It is a bit confusing because there are three Ministers with responsibility. There is the Minister for Education, the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and another Minister. It is all very confusing. I do not think it helps that it is spread across so many areas.

The Minister visited a school in my locality last week and told the principal that there is no teacher retention or recruitment problem. If we are starting from this basis, it is a real problem. We need an urgent session because so many parents are still without school places in my area and, I am sure, in many other areas. There are buildings that have been sanctioned and counted as being in place that are not in place. These are key issues regarding how we can get the modular buildings that have been approved in place to cater for students.

I have other issues on my list. If I do not get to say what they are, I will email them on. Everybody would agree that we need to discuss these matters urgently.