Ms Frances Byrne:

Exactly. Teachers have commented on it too. I have lots of teachers in my life who tell me that when children walk in the door for junior infants, they can tell who has been in preschool and who has not. I warmly welcome Deputy Sherlock's remarks. He captured it so eloquently. When one talks to early years educators, one sees their enormous and rightful pride in their work, particularly in the context of children with challenges. One will see their faces light up, hear their voices go up and see their heads go up. However, at the same time they have a wider feeling of not being valued by society, despite the great work that has been done to try to improve terms and conditions. Deputy Sherlock caught that very well and I wanted to acknowledge that.