Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is aware that the world is saying with one voice that black lives matter. I raise this issue because it appears to me we should be cognisant of the fact that we stand in probably the whitest parliament in the world, and that our teaching profession should reflect the students they teach. We have been remiss in trying to get a teaching profession or role models in the professions such as teaching, nursing and the Garda, that reflect the general population. I am not sure of the statistics for members of the Traveller community or people from minority groups who are in the teaching profession but I am interested to know what kinds of conversations are happening in the Department of Education about promoting such a pathway so people from various different backgrounds to be role models and leaders in education. I do not know the statistics but I can only imagine that the teaching profession is probably similar to the political profession in this regard. There is a lot we can change in Irish society. Many people will know Members, who sit currently in this House, who have said things they should regret about Travellers, migrants and asylum seekers. We have to find mechanisms in every Department on how we can change attitudes. Many students now sit in classrooms with people from all sorts of backgrounds, which is to be welcomed, but in most cases the teachers are quite similar. I ask that the Minister would reflect on that and see what the Department of Education and teacher training colleges are doing to reach out to have an education and teaching profession, including a special needs assistant profession, that is reflective of the student body.

I shall now turn to the issue of returning to school. When listening to the mixed messaging, as referred to earlier, sometimes I get frustrated with how differently education is treated to how the economy is treated. We speak about education in very different ways. When we speak about the retail sector or the economy there is nothing that cannot be addressed. Rent can be addressed, rates can be addressed and paying staff can be addressed. When we talk of schools losing teachers, however, the Minister said the system has not changed because of Covid-19.

Why can the system not change because of Covid? The last time we spoke I mentioned to the Minister a school in an acutely disadvantaged area that is one student short of keeping a teacher for September. Every school will greatly struggle in September to keep the show on the road and to get students back into the classroom. Secondary school principals tell me we will lose a generation because students they have been clinging to for years to keep them in the education system, who legally do not have to be there after the age of 16, are now making a decision not to go back. The discontinuation of education has been so profound in their lives they are unlikely to go back in September. Unless we frontload this area with huge resources and realise how important it is we will not get them back and we will lose a generation.

What frustrates me about the language used is that I do not really get the sense this is a priority or of how enormous it will be for schools to reopen in September for young people and children to have the chance to change the direction in their lives. It will cost money. People speak about other examples in various European countries. They are putting money into it. They are putting staff into it.

Sanitation has been mentioned, as has the figure of €25 million that it will cost. I want the Minister to be aware of a project undertaken by four students in St. Seachnall's national school in Dunshaughlin. I will send the Minister the details so he will be aware of it. They did a project on sanitising their school and they want it to go nationwide. Laura Kilbane, Emily Lynch, Julia Olelale and Adelina Stewart are anxious that the project be taken on by the Department and rolled out.

I want to ask about safe passes. It appears that imagination which could be used by the Department is not being used. For a construction worker or someone who wants to get an apprenticeship the safe pass is everything but the system does not seem to be able to bend to the new reality. I am told, from speaking to the Connect Trade Union, that the trade union movement is willing to step up to the mark and fill in the gaps that need to be filled. There is potential for these courses to be delivered online. SOLAS oversees it but, unfortunately, it is unbending. This is under the Department and I ask the Minister please to speak about the safe pass so that people moving from one jurisdiction back to Ireland or from one profession to another will not have this pause button on their potential to start work or start their apprenticeship. It appears that the Government is all over finding a solution for some sectors of the economy but when it comes to issues such as education and safe passes it is unbending.

Something else that is unbending is the Teaching Council. Under the Droichead framework for teachers' probation, primary teachers must have 60 days in a school and secondary school teachers need 200 hours in a school. Nothing after 13 March will count. Primary school teachers could have done 59 days since 13 March, doing the best they can online trying to educate children, but it will not count for their probation. This is another unbending arm of the Department.

For some reason the Department will not change its ways. It is causing a huge amount of frustration for young teachers trying to get into the profession and young people trying to get their safe pass. Principals are worried about getting students back in September or being one student short to keep a teacher. Everything in the Department is unbending. It just will not bend. When it comes to the economy, retail and all the other lobbyists on the radio every day of the week, the world can change for them because people need to buy flights and snack boxes in Supermac's.

The Minister mentioned the July provision and I appreciate the fact he has given it an awful lot of airtime in this contribution and in his previous contribution. I congratulate him for that. There is a rolling ongoing scandal in the country regarding children who have a diagnosis of autism who do not have a school place in September. It will be compounded this year because of Covid-19. The issue is between the Departments of Education and Skills and Health and it is the classic problem in Irish education when something falls between two Departments; both Departments have the perfect answer that it is the other's problem. Parents struggling with a diagnosis and challenge in their families are handed a list of schools and told "off you go".

I know parents who have been to 15 or 19 schools which have all found mechanisms for saying "No". The Minister now has power under the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 to force a school to open a unit, or demand that it do so, and I want him to speak to that.

These are extraordinary times. Everybody appreciates that and everybody sitting here, asking these questions appreciates the fact that it is a difficult time but the Department of Education and Skills needs to unbend. The Department knows how to deal with schools and teachers but it does not know how to, or feels that it cannot, deal with anyone outside that and it has no empathy for the situation. If the Minister does not have time to respond to all my questions I would appreciate a written response.

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