Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the news that has been delivered here today by the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, that schoolchildren in special classes in primary schools and children with significant additional needs in mainstream schools will return to school on 21 January, or that is, at least, the date towards which the Department is working. This news will come as a huge relief to parents, guardians and students themselves throughout the country. It is a job well done by the Minister, the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte. It is what they wanted from day one but circumstances had not allowed it. Fair play to them for the work they have done in getting to this point. It is very welcome news.

The reasons that these arrangements are necessary is clear. Children with special needs are losing out on education, gaining skills and having quality time with their peers. Routine is very important to these children, a point made by many of the parents and guardians who have contacted me. Their children's behavioural issues are increasing because of the lack of routine. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan touched on that point. We now need to work hard towards getting children who avail of ASD units and special classes in secondary schools back to school. I am confident that these provisions will work.

I want to refer briefly to the leaving certificate examination. I just ran a quick poll on the subject on my Instagram page. I do not have that many Instagram followers but they provide a reasonable sample of what leaving certificate students and their parents think. I put the option to them of a blended model that would include predicted grades along with the choice to sit the leaving certificate examination if a student is not happy with his or her predicted grades. A resounding 74% of respondents were in favour of that option. I also ran the option of proceeding with the traditional leaving certificate process, which got 49% for and 51% against. My point is that we need to be guided by the students on this issue. They are saying to me that they want the option of predicted grades and the option to sit the examination. More than anything else, we need clarity and certainty and we need them as soon as possible.

I conclude with a brief comment on the difficulties with remote learning. There are pockets in my constituency where broadband is not up to scratch and students are having difficulty availing of remote learning. I want to make the Minister aware of that. I have no specific questions but wanted to get those points across.

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