Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate. The quality of the debate has been good. I listened with interest to the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan's opening remarks. I would make one exception, however. It is unwelcome to hear a specific board of management named on the floor of the Dáil and for a suggestion to be made that the Government pressurises a board of management. Having served on a board of management myself in a voluntary capacity, I would have found it very unwelcome in my own situation.

It has been an immensely challenging time for our entire society. For the Ministers in question, it has been extremely difficult to sail these waters and to make sure that provision for some of our most vulnerable children is kept in place in a meaningful way. The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, referred to the ongoing research about the impact of school closures, particularly the different impact it will have on disadvantaged students. The recognition of and commitment to research is very welcome. We need to act on those findings to remediate any damage to children's education and to ensure that we do not see a lost generation on foot of this pandemic.

There is lost time on top of already long waits for interventions such as autism diagnoses, early intervention, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. Notwithstanding the expansion of the summer programme outlined in the opening statement, I just want to read out a communication I had from an extremely committed teacher who is an expert in the area of July provision. It states:

The home tuition is the same as last year with not one single new incentive to help staff involved that are offering to final year students. This is of no help to our children with complex needs. Pay is still lower for primary teachers in comparison to secondary, even though we are equally qualified and, in some cases, more so. SNA pay rates remain inadequate. They would get paid more for waiting on tables in a coffee shop. The pay date is a day earlier than last year so teachers are still waiting months for pay. This is of no use to non-permanent or student teachers as they will then be ineligible for social welfare. The 28th of October is just too long for work carried out through July and August, particularly when many of us will be spending plenty to provide resources, trips lunches and petrol for the children who we are working with.

The final problem is supplementary provision completed in April. We still have no pay date for that. I have had two teachers withdraw from the July provision due to this already. The problems with previous years' programme were clearly and easily fixed. Instead of fixing what was broken, it has been expanded with no actual changes. The problem with the expansion is that staff may now opt to take children with less needs rather than taking children for whom the programme was originally set up. I know of two SNAs with 15 and 16 years of experience who have opted out of the July provision owing to pay.

What I hear from this is an extremely dedicated educator who is suffering from fatigue. We know our educators want the very best for the children who are in their charge, none more so than the educator I have just quoted. We need to earn back their goodwill. We need to acknowledge the difficulty of the year that they and the children in their care have had.

Tangential to this discussion, I want to acknowledge the work of the Chair of the education committee, Deputy Kehoe, in guiding an extensive exploration of bullying in schools. One of the themes which has emerged is that Covid has had a significant impact on our wider schoolgoing population.

We have seen an explosion, in particular as we move to online learning, of cyberbullying. It is very important and correct that we are focused here on children with disabilities but as we move out of this pandemic we also need to look to the mental health of our young children and people who have experienced such a difficult time during the past 16 months. Gabhaim buíochas, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh.

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