Mr. John Curtis:

We are all on a journey in the context of establishing what works best for students in our schools. In recent years, we have become more acutely aware of the need to help students in this area. The Senator mentioned looking after school communities and teachers. As a pilot project, we brought in a mindfulness programme this year for some of our principals whereby they could engage regularly with a number of expert practitioners online to work things out themselves. We will pilot the programme in schools to see if we can get some teachers to take part in the course and perhaps they can then bring it to their pupils. We are all learning in this space.

The Senator mentioned restorative justice. That has been very useful in many of our schools. We are all in learning mode and it is important that we share best practice.

I will come back to one issue on resources, if I may. I have been appearing before this committee for many years, including when it was chaired by the Senator. I have great faith in the practitioners around this table and the officials in the Department of Education. The Senator mentioned the Minister. We find that the officials and the Minister will advocate for funding on our behalf. I know that talking about resources is not the be-all and end-all but it is still frustrating for us that even the latest OECD figures show Ireland is so far down the table in the context of overall investment in education. That has nothing to do with the people in this room. I know how invested in education everybody here, departmental officials and the Minister are. However, I refer to the proportion of the national pie available to education because I may not appear at this committee many more times. Unless politicians look at the proportion of the national pie that goes into education in the first instance, we are all going to struggle. That is my personal plea at this juncture.