Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Congratulations to Deputy Dillon on his election and on his maiden speech today. In his last point, he referenced clarity concerning the leaving certificate. The school alignment process has started and we have set up the portal, which will be going live between the executive office and the Department and the schools. We are looking to trigger that on Monday so the schools can start feeding back information. There has been, therefore, a great degree of momentum at the school alignment level, although there is still much work to be done. My ambition has always been, and it still is, that we will have results coming out as close to the traditional date as possible. I refer to the normal date for the issuing of leaving certificate results. That is the ambition and I will work intensely with my officials to make sure that happens. It is important on several fronts, including the transition to third level. I am also conscious, however, of the transition involving those applying to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, UCAS, whether that concerns Northern Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales. I refer also to those applying to go to Europe, where the majority of students last year went to the Netherlands, and we have ongoing engagement with our European counterparts.

I turn now to part of Deputy Feighan's question regarding my engagement with the Minister of Education in Northern Ireland, Mr. Peter Weir. I spoke to him just yesterday and raised the issue of UCAS to ensure we have those deadlines.

One of the things I have picked up from engaging with my officials, officials from the UK Department for Education and the Secretary of State for Education, Mr. Gavin Williamson, is that there is a flexibility there. We will continue to work with them on that.

The Deputy referred to the Mayo campus and its importance. He has raised that issue several times with me, as well as the integral connection between Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal in the context of the new Connacht-Ulster alliance. He requested an update on that alliance. He is correct that Dr. Seán Duffy has been appointed and has been working closely with the three colleges to ensure the preparatory work needed for an application to be submitted is on track. The plan is that an application will be submitted for a Connacht-Ulster alliance in quarter 4 of this year. There has been quite a degree of momentum there. I referred earlier to the south east. There is also quite a degree of momentum with regard to the proposed Limerick-Athlone alliance. Those three applications are in a very positive place.

The Deputy referred to hygiene standards in schools. He is correct that the reopening guidelines, plans and roadmap that the Cabinet will sign off on and publish tomorrow week will include instruction, guidelines and advice for schools.

Going back to Deputy Ó Laoghaire's point on the additional cost involved, I am conscious that it will cost a great deal of extra money and that schools are already under pressure as a result of the reduction in capitation moneys from 2011. We have restored 7.5% of that but we need to go further for the schools. I will discuss the construction project raised by the Deputy with the officials.

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