Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise this matter because, as I said earlier, I am a huge advocate for the school completion programme. It is excellent. The general public probably does not know enough about it and all the good work it does because it is under the radar. That is what makes it so successful. While it is predominantly in DEIS schools, one does not have to be in a DEIS school to qualify for the school completion programme. A number of schools a number of years ago applied for the school completion programme and were successful and they take in children who would otherwise fall through the cracks and who do not necessarily qualify for other services, for example Tusla services. That is what is so vital about the programme falling back within the remit of the Department of Education and Skills. I understand it is not a decision for the Minister to make alone and perhaps this is a little unfair, but I would like to know his own opinion on this. Tusla is not the appropriate body for the programme because, while Tusla does good work in other areas, the key for school completion is to be tied in with the education system. The programme is focused on education, keeping kids in school and identifying why children might not complete school. While Tusla might have a role in that, many children will not get to the stage at which they come to the attention of Tusla but they might come to the attention of the school completion programme. They might have very minor difficulties or what we would see as minor difficulties for our children but what are major difficulties in their lives. The school completion programme can often intervene in many different scenarios and be very helpful. Since the move has been made, the co-ordinators have been falling through the cracks and they do not necessarily have a forum or a body to feed into through the Department any more.

See this speech in context