Dr. Fidelma Brady:

We need to make a stand. We spent recent weeks listening to parents and schools. My colleague, Mr. Kelly, spoke about scaremongering, but no one is scaremongering. We are not scaremongering. I am reflecting what my members are telling me. Well, they are not my members, but members of my organisation. The schools are not scaremongering. They are genuinely afraid and do not know what they will do in September, whether they have lost teachers and how many SNAs they will have. Parents are not scaremongering. There is a general fear out there. The Department needs to stand back, take all of this on board and take the situation forward.

We talk about the importance and education of the child, but where is the child’s voice in all of this? We are not the voice of the Department, yet there is a sense from our engagements with the Department that we are being asked to go back, talk to the parents and sort it all out. That is not going to happen. What the parents need is not another statement from me, Mr. Harris, Ms McDonagh or any of our organisations. Parents need a clear statement from the Department on this matter. Mr. Kelly and I have had three engagements with the Department over the past week, and at no time have we been told that it is willing to provide this information to the parents itself. Information going from the Department to the parents is different than a statement written by me. I am not the Department of Education. We need to get the idea out there that the parents and the children have a voice, but they also need the respect of the Department and to have information.

The circular was deemed to be solely for teachers. I am a teacher and have been for many years, but I could not figure the circular out. My first reaction was to ask where complex needs had gone. I read the circular twice, then said to myself there was something wrong. As to the idea that parents do not see these circulars, the Department is greatly mistaken. They certainly do.