Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I welcome the Minister's reply but I was hoping for more detail about what will happen in the schools. Will there be a band of schools that will be considered particularly disadvantaged and will they get more resources than the other disadvantaged schools? All Members are aware of schools that have a high level of disadvantage and are struggling to cope with the social problems that exist in the families of the students. I hope they will get extra allocations to what is given to the regular disadvantaged schools.

Perhaps the Minister would elaborate further on her proposals regarding early childhood education. A number of schools in very disadvantaged areas have lost both resource and SNA hours as a result of the changes under the weighted system for resource teachers and SNA support. Some of those schools are struggling as a result of this loss. Will the Minister examine this matter and consider restoring resource hours to those schools? It is a shame that schools that really need extra support do not have it or have lost it this year. However, I welcome the fact there are finally proposals on educational disadvantage. They were a long time coming.

See this speech in context