Ms Molly Hynes:

Schools are busy and noisy places and this does not suit all students. Funding should be available to schools to invest in supervised lunchtime programmes that offer quiet spaces to students during busy times. The funding made available to school libraries by the Minister, Deputy Foley, has the potential to greatly help in this area but regular funding of this nature should be available to all schools. Quiet rooms and reading rooms are features in many schools abroad.

Considerable investment in the high-speed broadband network in Ireland to ensure students have equal opportunities for online learning is long overdue. Slow Wi-Fi can cause a considerable amount of stress for students as they are either unable to complete or submit work through no fault for their own. This creates an unequal learning environment and requires immediate attention.

Training facilitated by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, should be mandatory in all schools.