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

The Minister mentioned that there is a support programme for teachers. Could he expand on that? Are there guidelines or some sort of guidance for schools? I ask this because many of the teachers I deal with are not aware of any supports for them to deal with children living in emergency accommodation.

In terms of what the Minister said about Tusla, I was not aware it had a role. My understanding was that it passed that on to another service. If that is the case, are there guidelines that can be issued to schools, particularly those that have a high volume of children living in emergency accommodation? That would be very helpful for teachers in terms of counselling services for them. This is a new phenomena that has developed in recent years and it is a major issue for teachers to try to deal with, particularly the more recently qualified teachers who are trying to get to grips with all the issues that present in a classroom but particularly those to do with children living in emergency accommodation.

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