Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a crucial point. I mentioned earlier that the transition from preschool to primary level, from primary level to secondary level and from secondary level onwards is often the occasion when children fall by the wayside. It is a very important area. Research is ongoing and a group chaired by the Secretary General of the Department considers initiatives we can take in this area. There is increased emphasis on the hand over in terms of the emerging preschool area and primary level. The primary level curriculum is being re-assessed to try to have stages within it that allow those transitions to be more successful so that the early stages are more akin to preschool and at the late stage more akin to the expectations that will be in secondary school. A good deal of work is going into that, both on the curriculum side and on more practical issues as well such as access at third level for children who could fall by the wayside, either because of disadvantage or disability. All of those metrics are improving. We are seeing more successful transitions to third level.

See this speech in context