Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I congratulate the Chair on his appointment. The Chair and I were members of committees in the previous Dáil term. For those new to committee work, in my experience, it is a good opportunity to dig deep into issues and work collectively on them, which is nice.

There are a few important areas on which I want to focus, the first of which has already been mentioned, that being, special educational needs. That is an immediate priority. There are strands to it, such as teaching resources, SNAs and physical space. That is important work that needs attention. Perhaps we could hear from the NCSE, the Minister and the Minister of State.

Educational disadvantage is another issue. There has been significant investment in education and a number of welcome universal measures have been taken, but we need to discuss educational disadvantage. There is a DEIS plan and a proposed DEIS Plus scheme, so this is an important area to examine. There are indicators, for example, reduced school days and absenteeism, that might highlight issues in particular areas. There are issues around workers. Fórsa is conducting a ballot of SNAs, caretakers and school secretaries. That is an important area of attention.

Another issue is the recruitment and retention crisis, emergency or whatever one wants to call it in the sector. There are many levers that could be tweaked to recruit and retain teachers in the system.

We have just had a large briefing on school transport. You could set your clock by it. However, there are reforms and it is important that we pursue their roll-out.

Irish language education is another important matter. Related to that is the idea that every child should have access to an education that reflects his or her value and priorities, whether that be in terms of special educational needs, religious ethos or non-religious ethos, or language. This is an important matter.