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

Senator Bacik and I have been campaigning since February for a catch-up fund for children. The Government must invest in education for children who have lost out on in-school learning over the past year and a half or so. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, announced two weeks ago she was working on a multimillion euro fund to this end. She said she would announce it shortly. She was not in a position to say when or how much.

The Tánaiste will be aware that a major controversy has arisen over the catch-up for children fund in the UK. The catch-up tsar resigned over the fact the fund was only £1.4 billion. Does the Tánaiste agree with me that whatever summer programme is rolled out this summer will not be enough to help children to catch up, particularly those in disadvantaged areas or with learning challenges? When will this catch-up fund be announced and how much will be in the fund?

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