Ms Martina Mannion:

The programme the Deputy referred to as July provision used to be a programme that was run for a month. Schools said they were struggling to find capacity to do it for a month and it is for that reason we brought it back to two weeks. We want schools to do it for two weeks because of the challenges in setting up the provision, getting the staff and getting it to work for one week. It is challenging for the children but also it does not provide the level of benefit required. If a school suggests that the challenges in running it for two weeks involve , for example, not being able to get staff, additional supports or anything like that, we had a portal supported by the Irish Primary Principals Network, IPPN, in conjunction with ourselves whereby we facilitated the registration of people other than the staff who worked in the school. We focused on, for example, student teachers, students in therapy care assistance and early childhood people. Some 1,500 people registered in that portal last year, which means schools have access to additional staff outside their own. We strongly encourage schools to do this for the minimum of two weeks. We would like them for do it for longer, but anything less than that represents a challenge for the children.