Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am curious to know to which working group the Deputy is referring. There is a working group in place which consists of officials from the Department and representatives of the TUI, the ASTI, the school management bodies, the NAPD, Educate Together, parents, the NCCA and the SEC. This working group met on 17 January, 7 February, 7 March and 29 May. It was established to address the obstacles that had arisen in the implementation of this significant and long awaited reform and its work in that regard is ongoing. I am confident that with the ingenuity and innovation available to us from within the teaching profession and that if the two principal unions, the ASTI and the TUI, make their written submissions and take up the Minister's offer to meet him, which offer I am sure will remain open through his successor - I encourage the teacher unions to become involved in the process of negotiation - we can enter the new school year in September with a degree of certainty as to how this long awaited reform is to be implemented.

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