Ms Kate Duggan:

I do not have the exact breakdown, but that information is available and it is certainly something we can share with the committee. My understanding is that there is no significant difference. While we are seeing some improvement post Covid, it is not at the rate we want. The work our education support services are doing, with the support of the Department of education, is very much around understanding that.

When we speak about asks of this committee, we are going to launch a new programme, with the support of the Department of education and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, called Anseo in September. It is a word that resonates with anyone who has gone to school in Ireland. Everyone will understand what the word “anseo” means. We welcome the support of this committee for this campaign in order to get behind promoting the importance of what all the evidence tells us about children and young people being in school. It will help to support and maintain them in school.