Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct in saying we touched upon many of these issues yesterday at the committee and I thank him for that opportunity. Regarding resources for schools, in the interest of balance I must say the Government has shown incredible determination to resource education at a time, as the Deputy has correctly said, that is not normal; it is far from normal. It is definitely a Covid-19 environment. In that respect more than €629 million has been made available, which is an unprecedented investment to tackle Covid-19 issues in our schools.

The Deputy spoke about a catch-up for students who have lost out in their education. I am very cognisant of that. The Department's inspectorate has done considerable work in garnering information on how it has impacted on students. The Deputy will be aware that on Monday I made a significant announcement about our DEIS schools with a one-point reduction in class sizes in the urban DEIS band 1 primary schools. In the previous budget I made significant progress in improving the pupil-teacher ratio for all schools. Regarding DEIS schools, I have extended the school completion programme, which is a very important programme for children in disadvantaged circumstances. We have included a further 28 schools in that respect. We have also increased funding for the school completion programme, and we have reduced the requirement from 700 to 600 to ensure additional deputy principals will be available in that environment.

As I told the Deputy yesterday, we will expand summer provision for children to assist with numeracy and literacy. I hope as many schools as possible will take up that opportunity over the summer. We will continue to introduce as many measures as possible to mitigate lost learning time.

I again confirm we have discussed what I have advocated clearly on vaccinations with the Department of Health on a number of occasions and we have formally written to it. We have asked for staff in the school community to be given particular consideration for vaccination.

The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, has undertaken a review of the leaving certificate senior cycle. To the best of my knowledge that is nearing completion and it is about to present those completed findings to me. That will be a springboard for further discussion and ultimate decision-making on the senior cycle.

We are committed to a review of the calculated grades process, as it was then, on completion of the entire process. The last stage of that was the opportunity we afforded to students to take the written exam in November, the results of which issued in February. The appeals process for that is ongoing. The Deputy will also be aware that in some instances litigation is pending, notwithstanding the verdict yesterday. When all of that is completed, we are determined there will be a review.

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