Ms Maeve McCafferty:

Deputy Neville is right to say technology does not have to be the enemy. It can be used to enhance physical activity. However, it will take some creative and innovative thinking. We need to move in that direction. If there is a curriculum review in primary schools, we will have to see how we bring that in. I will offer an anecdote from my classroom days. We used YouTube for yoga in the classroom. There was no way I could compete with the animated movement of the children. They were so enthused and engaged and the technology allowed us to do it in the classroom.

I wish to bring one statistic to the attention of the committee. Many schools do not have PE halls, especially primary schools. This is evident where I come from in Donegal. An INTO study found that 80% of schools, especially in rural Ireland, do not have PE halls. We need to be realistic about it and we need to get creative in how we get physical activity into the classroom.