Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is my first debate with the Minister and, therefore, I take this opportunity to wish her well in her new role and likewise the Minister, Deputy Harris.

We are here to discuss Revised Estimates for the Department of Education and Skills. The news for education is that the net allocation sought for education and skills is unchanged from before the pandemic. I know that the Minister has spoken about this but this reflects a Department that has failed to get to grips with the impact of the pandemic and that is shown in any number of ways. While it is not the main story on the news every day, I am sure the Minister knows that for countless families across the State the return to school is one of the biggest topics discussed and I include my own in that. In my view, the core objective here needs to be a full and safe return to school. That is the core objective of everyone involved in education. I recognise the huge effort of parents, children, teachers and school staff but, despite the best efforts of all concerned, children have fallen behind, especially children with special educational needs and those from a background of disadvantage.

To reopen safely requires significant investment but there is not a single extra penny in the Revised Estimates to deal with that. It is farcical. The Government is trying to give the impression that it is on top of reopening schools. There is hardly a day that I am not contacted by a parent at their wits' end and completely in the dark. The same goes for teachers and school staff. Will their children be going back to school three, four or five days a week? How many children will be in a pod? Will children have to wear masks on buses? Will there be temperature checks? What are immunocompromised children, parents or teachers supposed to do? Where do they fit in?

The Minister gave an interview in theSunday Independentlast weekend and none of those questions was answered. That has been a trend in the Department of Education of Skills from before the Minister's time. There has been confusion and mixed messages from the start. There was one weekend in May when the then Minister of Education and Skills gave one message early on a Saturday, the Taoiseach gave a different message later that afternoon and a different message again the next day. Schools have now been closed for four months and are due to reopen in six weeks. Initial discussions began in late May, two and a half months after schools closed.

We were promised a roadmap on 12 June. It was put off and now seems to have disappeared from the agenda. We have a roadmap that governs restaurants, clubs, sports, pubs and a million other things but no roadmap for education. The closest thing we have is the detailed document on what the Government would not do. One cannot call that a roadmap. It has been farcical and unacceptable.

The Minister needs to resolve this and clarify the situation as soon as possible. We need a roadmap that details how schools will reopen, how children will be kept safe and the contingency plan if the rate of infection increases significantly or there are local outbreaks. We need investment. In my view, we need a stimulus into education. There will clearly be the need for a much stricter hygiene regime. Many schools that do not have a full-time cleaner will need one. Many schools that do not have hot water, which is a scandal in itself, will need that to be addressed. There is a need for additional personal protective equipment, partitions and signage to ensure the return is safe. It must also include any additional refuse costs. Where is the €25 million for that?

The fact is that the Department is behind the curve and that is why we are in this situation today with an Estimate that has no additional Covid money. The Government must ensure that all additional costs are met by the Department and not by parents through an increase in already costly voluntary contributions. School transport will have to work differently and will need additional funding. Where is that funding? There will be a need for additional staff. We will need more substitutes. In the event that a teacher becomes unwell, there must be a panel of available substitutes for schools to ensure quick arrangements can be made. No school should be worse off for staff numbers than they were last year.

In secondary schools, substitutes are not available for some subjects so we need solutions. It might mean additional funding for existing teachers to teach more classes or perhaps second year Professional Master of Education students or final year students could be part of the solution. We need additional release days for teaching principals to allow them to focus on making their school safe. We need more secretarial supports and schools need return-to-school aides, similar to examination aides.

The Department is way behind the curve on all of these badly needed actions.

In regard to online learning and the digital divide, the Government spent €60 million on ICT infrastructure for the academic year 2019-20. While that funding was welcome, it was not enough to provide sufficiently for students during normal times, let alone during the lockdown, when online learning became the norm. Many children were left behind. Any approach that advocates for continued online learning without providing the tools required for all pupils to participate will simply exacerbate the educational disadvantage that has come to the surface in recent months. All of these issues must be addressed but none of the funding is in place to do it. That is not good enough.

The other issue I want to raise is one that arises every year but may be of even greater severity this year, namely, that parents have to fork out hundreds of euro, in some instances well over €1,000, to cover their children's return to school. The reason for this is that our schools are drastically underfunded. It is crazy that schools have to fundraise and ask for voluntary contributions so that they can pay their energy bills and keep the lights on. It is crazy how much parents have to spend on schoolbooks in schools where there is no book rental scheme. I urge the Minister to deal with this issue. I have been in contact with many parents about this, one of whom gave me that figure of €1,000 as the cost of sending three children to secondary school in the autumn. That is simply unacceptable and it puts parents under incredible pressure. My fear is that if the Government does not provide enough funding to schools to ensure they are safe and Covid-ready, the schools will have no other option but to pass the cost on to parents. Parents cannot bear the cost of the additional hygiene and staffing measures and, in many case, this means, in effect, that the schools will not be able to afford to implement them.

Finally, I take the opportunity to raise again the question of how out-of-school learners will be dealt with as part of the leaving certificate calculated grades process. I appreciate that the situation facing the Department was complicated and every solution was going to be difficult, but these particular students have been ignored and neglected and no plan B has been put in place for them. I urge the Minister to meet with the affected students. The numbers involved are not large but the injustice they are facing is very grave and needs to be addressed. I ask the Minister to agree to some kind of arrangement or plan B to ensure they do not lose out on admittance to the third-level courses they would have chosen in normal circumstances.

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