Ms Sharon Mpofu:

I will speak to the challenges being faced by children in international protection, whether in primary or post-primary education. In most cases, children get transferred from Dublin to Cork in the middle of a school term. The kids are in class, and they have made friends, but in the middle of the year they get transferred to County Cork, County Mayo or wherever. On its own, that disturbs the children's education and what they would have learned. They might find that was being learned in Dublin has already been done in Cork, or it might be something they have still not done. The child will wonder what he or she is doing. Some children also get transferred into a remote area, where there is no public transport at all and the school bus is already full. There is no space for the kids, and no other means of transport to get them to school. It becomes a challenge for the parents too. I thank the Government for seeing to it that children in primary school get textbooks next year.