Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Feighan raised the issue around the advisory group. The advisory group is a collection of management bodies, parent representative groups, student representative voices and the two main unions for the post-primary sector - the TUI and ASTI. The group has been working through a lot of issues and has met seven times. Each time it has met, it has discussed issues such as getting consensus on the junior cycle, mental health issues, and how the practicals and research projects would look in a leaving certificate setting. It also walked through the process of seeing what a leaving certificate would look like under current public health guidelines. It has been a very important unit because this has not been an easy period in terms of trying to find a way through these very difficult decisions, but the unit has been really helpful. I met with it again today and we had a discussion around protections for teachers and fairness for students regarding calculated grades. The group will meet again on Friday to have a discussion about school reopenings. That will be a very important mechanism as we work our way through the summer. I thank the group members in particular for all their efforts and hard work during this emergency and crisis.

Deputy Feighan also asked where we are with school reopenings. The advice from NPHET is that schools will reopen in September, so we are working on that basis. We are working under current health advice. Obviously, health advice is subject to change, but we will work on the basis of current health advice. Whether that is social distancing or issues involving bus or other transportation requirements, we will work through that together. I know Deputies will continue to keep their voices heard with regard to where they see it going.

I will not get into a discussion as to when summer holidays should be or how they should happen, but I acknowledge one thing, which is that it has been such a disruption for society and families. We do not know where we are going to be in a month's time, never mind two months' time, as a society with regard to this pandemic, but we will work through it and continue to do so collectively.

I thank Deputy Higgins for raising two important issues regarding the completion of primary school and the rite of passage, as she calls it, from primary to secondary education as well as finishing the leaving certificate. Yes, there are traditions and rites of passage such as meeting for meals. Some schools have masses while others have other ways of celebrating that. I am getting a lot of contact from parents of students in primary school and primary school teachers regarding the rite of passage from sixth class to post-primary education. It is a big transition and step. Many sixth class students get a chance to go into post-primary schools for a few days to see what it is like, so it is a big transition. It is something which we are looking at to see how we could facilitate that transition to secondary school. I know the Deputy asked what my advice would be regarding graduations. Most schools do their own thing when it comes to graduations, but this will be an item of discussion.

It was an item of discussion with my officials when I met them this morning before the advisory group meeting.

A couple of Deputies raised the issue of July provision. We also had a meeting this morning about July provision and I am open to the idea of expanding the initiative. It is limited in its construction at the moment and a difficulty arises when different groups are excluded. We are looking at potential expansion and I will keep Deputies informed as to how we will move forward.

Turning to special needs in general, we are fortunate that so many special needs assistants have stayed in contact with their students. We want to ensure that we offer whatever extra support or facilitation we can. One of the discussions that I had with the Taoiseach, followed by discussions with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, was about the fact that an all-of-Government response is needed, including the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues, the Department of Health and my Department. Meetings have taken place and I will keep the House updated on any developments in that regard.

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