Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Homelessness is a real and serious problem in Ireland. There are 3,784 children now living in emergency accommodation. This Government does not have any policy in place to cater for the educational needs of children who are homeless or living in emergency accommodation. In addition, the needs of these homeless children are not even mentioned in the action plan for education nor in the Department of Education and Skills statement of strategy which covers the period from 2019-2021. It really is heads in the sand time with this Government.

This Government is letting down the education system in Ireland right across the board. I was contacted last year by many schools in my constituency in west Cork. The totally inadequate number of release days to teaching principals was highlighted to me, as well as the lack of regard for their mental and physical health given the increasingly unrealistic and unimaginable workload. I highlighted these concerns to the Minister. Today, however, we still have a situation where our young teachers are emigrating to other countries for better terms and more stability. All these factors affect our children in the education system.

The main concern when one talks to any teacher is always that of their students. I am on a school board of management. I know the struggles schools are going through daily. We have excellent young teaching principals in west Cork. I do not see them staying in their posts, however. They are working into the night to deal with the heavy workload they are being left with by a Government that is not even looking into the situation. This Government needs to accept that having a fully working educational system requires all of the cogs to be working together.

We saw major delays last year in processing the back to school clothing and footwear allowance. This placed serious additional pressure on families already struggling with limited incomes. My office is inundated every year with constituents having to fight to get places for their children on a school bus. All this is unacceptable. Parents have enough stress and worry already without adding all these unnecessary burdens. The closest school rule is a scandal in its own right and has been allowed continue by this House year after year.

I see many parents now fighting with Bus Éireann to try to get their child to school. Those parents are being told the school their children are going to is not the closest school. Measurements are being taken in areas where the bus never travels. That is being done to win the case and it might involve only 0.5 km or even just a few metres. In one case, a mistake was made where the route was measured through a farmyard. Any possible way is being used to cut the parent out from getting the right to have their child taken to school. The Minister of State is going to have to wake up to the problems out there. She will have to sit down with the people who might be able to create solutions. I would appreciate if she would at least do that for people.

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