Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister this afternoon. She has indicated that she wants to see an increase in capitation. Some schools have made the point that capitation is based on the students enrolled in the school at the end of September so if a student comes to the school after that date, the school does not receive any capitation fee. Is there any way that can be addressed? It also affects the school books grant. A student might move from another school in the country or come to the school from outside the country and if that could be addressed, it would be welcome.

Does the Minister have plans to reform how the Irish language is taught within our schools? I visited a school recently with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan. A Ukrainian student stood up and welcomed him in fluent English, although he had only been here since the war started in Ukraine. Within three years he was able to speak English very competently, yet most of us cannot speak Irish after learning it for years in school.

I come from a rural area and school transport is an issue that arises every August. Last year, 18 students in my area who had availed of concessionary tickets on the same school bus for up to four years previously were suddenly told that they would not have any school transport. The issue was resolved after a number of weeks but they were very stressful weeks for their parents. The review of school transport was published over a year ago. The Minister has indicated that she intends to increase the capacity by 100,000 but does she have a timescale for that? How many additional students will be accommodated this year? I was surprised that the Bus Éireann portal did not open any earlier this year in order to plan properly. It takes time to assess capacity requirements, get buses, recruit drivers and so on. What can we expect this year?

Caretakers and secretaries in some schools balloted just last week to go on strike from 28 August, which will mean that schools will not be able to reopen. We have a couple of months before then. This is not just a matter for the Minister for Education and Youth, but also concerns the Minister of public expenditure. Will they be engaging with Fórsa and does the Minister believe this dispute can be resolved before we get to a situation where we cannot reopen some of our schools?

Finally, what proportion of the budget will be going towards youth facilities? The Minister for children, Deputy Foley, announced some teen spaces last year. It is very important that we have facilities for teenagers in particular. That obviously impacts on their education and their lives but there really is nothing in many areas for our young people. Is there something that could be rolled out?