Mr. Adam Harris:

We talked much about impact, outputs and what we are getting for our investment. An important point to bring into the discussion is our groups have all raised concerns about the governance of the model. At present, a large volume of hours are front-loaded into our schools but parents have little say or agency within this process. We know of bad practice on the ground. For example, we know of second level schools that are using their allocations not for children who need them but to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in higher level subjects at leaving certificate level. It is critical to understand that families are caught between two pillars.

What we heard repeatedly from the Department yesterday is that it is confident every school has the resources to meet the needs of the child. If that is the case, the Department should not have any fear of a robust independent appeals process and should not have any fear of a process that gives a parents a right to appeal, not just schools. That would be a critical step to restore trust, as well as creating that pause to listen to families – not brief us but consult us.

Finally, I have concerns that while there have been meetings, and another meeting is scheduled for next week, I have little faith that we will not fall back into the same practice because this has happened so many times. That is why we need to seek in black and white a commitment from the Department on not just the fact it will consult us but how, when and at what level into the future.