Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will ask some questions in my supplementaries about some of her proposals but regarding the terms of reference which are being drawn up, it is important as an Opposition spokesperson to point out some of the issues I believe should be included in those terms of reference. The first is to examine the issue of funding. There is no doubt that the Government has done its best to try to protect funding for DEIS schools. However, there has been a significant cut in other aspects in regard to DEIS band 1 schools. I refer to the loss of language support teachers, the loss of visiting teacher services and the reduction in the school completion programmes. With regard to funding, there must be a recognition that while addition funding is going into DEIS band 1 schools, there is less likelihood of voluntary contributions coming into those schools so there must be some mention in the terms of reference on how funding is being allocated. I will come back to the other points.

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