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

It is quite unusual for a contribution to be interrupted in that manner but, obviously, ordinary rules do not apply in certain circumstances. I hope my time can be replenished. My point is that, regardless of the very unusual circumstances, we have to send out a message that strictly no canvassing can take place on any level whether the student is aware of such canvassing. If we dilute this element of the Bill or dilute the sanction, people will find loopholes, as they always do in Irish society. We have seen that time and time again. While this measure is strict and tough, and potentially very difficult for students, this Bill must be clear that absolutely no canvassing on any level will be tolerated. We should proceed on that basis. It is a very important message, albeit a difficult one for young people to have to consider. There needs to be a sacred space for teachers to do their work without interference from anybody, whether this interference is known to the student or otherwise.

The Minister made reference to school profiling, which is not part of this Bill or the accredited grades system. That is to be welcomed. I reiterate that it was the Minister who took out the school profiling last year following a campaign. She listened to people who had difficulties with it and she is to be commended on that. Again, as has already been stated, it was the advocacy and the campaigning zeal of young people and their ability to stay around the table with the Minister and her officials that got us to this point, at which young people have a choice. If young people are ever wondering about their power or potential to affect change, they should look at what happened throughout this entire process. It is there that the fruits of this power or potential can be seen.

While we are supporting the Bill, I feel we have not yet learned the lessons of the 2020 leaving certificate. We are still awaiting an independent review of what happened last year. If that review had been completed, many of those lessons could have been learned and it would have impacted on the Bill. That is a shame. We certainly want to work with the Minister in the future to try to find a form of leaving certificate that adequately reflects the capabilities and potential of all students. Many people are particularly critical of the leaving certificate. While it is transparent and while people have a great level of faith in it and believe that it is fair, to a degree, there is also a sense that the leaving certificate makes one good at doing the leaving certificate rather than allowing young people to maximise their potential. There is a sense that many young people are losing out on their chances in life because they have to jump over the hurdle of the leaving certificate in the first instance.

In general, the Labour Party is supportive of the Bill. We do not take lightly the canvassing element within the Bill. We feel that, while it is a tough measure, it is necessary. I can understand where the Minister is coming from with it and I will support her on it. We feel strongly about the review of last year's leaving certificate. I made points about the school profiling.

I know that the Minister agrees with me on my last point and that the Tánaiste has made similar points. It is an important point to make in respect of the pandemic and what we have gone through over the last year. This year has done damage to young people and it has left scars. A year of their school lives has been stolen, along with the socialisation and interaction they would have had. Teachers and special needs assistants were working all the while but remote working can never replace the school experience. While the Minister has made an announcement about summer programmes which may hope to repair some of that damage, the last year cannot be replaced or repaired over the course of a summer. We strongly suggest that we have potentially lost a generation of young people because, as we constantly say, people over 16 years of age are not required to be in school and many young people were lost to the system. Young people who are due to sit the leaving certificate next year are clinging on by their fingertips.

School teachers and principals are trying hard to keep young people engaged in school and school learning. It has been challenging.

In order to ensure that we do not lose a third generation, as it were, or year or cohort of young people to disengagement and choices that they may regret in later life, we must invest properly in a catch-up fund for young people akin to what has been done in the UK. Its fund is £1 billion. While its population is obviously larger than ours, something comparable would be of benefit in Ireland. Instead of trying to tackle the issue over the course of the summer, a fund would allow us to consider class sizes and investigate the damage that has been done and how we can repair the scarring, trauma and heightened anxiety of the past year. I do not just mean academic work, but other issues as well. This would be important. As the Minister knows, if there was a proposal for a road costing €150 million, any number of Government and Opposition Deputies would be jumping up and down saying that we could not but spend that €150 million on the road. When it comes to young people and children, however, the suggestion that €150 million would go a long way towards repairing the damage caused by a pandemic, people would scratch their heads and chins and say that that would be expensive and it could surely be spent on something else. This is the one chance that these young people will get, though. Unfortunately, they will have to tell their children and grandchildren for the rest of their lives how, when they were in school, there was a pandemic, as a result of which they lost out on in-class teaching. We will have a chance next year to try to repair that damage. The one mechanism we can use to do that is to invest in the expertise of our teachers and special needs assistants and listen to what they and school communities have to say. Repairing the damage may not be possible. For example, it may not be possible for infants to recover what they have lost. It will take a long time, but we have to try at least.

We support the Bill, accept what the Minister is saying about canvassing and understand the necessity for a legislative underpinning of what she is doing. We have worked with her so as to forgo pre-legislative scrutiny, even though that is not something that should happen too often. We are still waiting on the review of what happened in 2020. Let us learn the lessons of 2020 and 2021 and ensure that if students of the leaving certificate class of 2022 are going to be in class all the time, which is our hope, proper resources are made available not just for them, but for every school group, school year, class group and class year at primary and secondary levels so that the scarring and difficulties they have experienced are recognised by the State and, at the very least, we can cling on to some of the young people who have been disconnected and discommoded and who are wondering whether they will return in September. That is a choice that young people are making right now. If there are 17-year-olds who are considering not going back to school in September, it poses a difficulty that they may regret for the rest of their lives. This is the one chance we have and we should grasp it collectively. On that basis, we support the legislation.

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