Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I am delighted to see this legislation go through. The Minister knows I am supportive of it. I raised this issue in the previous Dáil, from 2016 onwards.

I will focus my remarks solely on the school completion programme. Historically, it was an educational programme and then it was transferred out of the Department of Education. It is great that it is going back there because it has an educational role. Some people do not fully understand what the school completion programme is. In fact, I have come across people who think it relates to the building of schools. When you know the programme, it is amazing. I love having the opportunity to talk about it. I have experience with the programme in Kilkenny and I am aware that there are 122 programmes nationwide. In future, if funding permits, it will be something that should be rolled out to all primary and secondary schools because of the key work it does, that so many other services do not, which is to focus on the child and the child's needs. It can identify a child who may be struggling or falling behind. That may be due to a learning difficulty or there may be something going on a home at a particular time in a child's life. There are many and varied reasons why children struggle at school. It becomes a vicious cycle. If you start to struggle at school, then you struggle with your homework and then you do not do your homework, you go into school without your homework done and then one day, you start to think you do not want to go to school. It is not as bad when children are in primary school because parents drop children to school to a greater extent but as children go into secondary school and into their teenage years, some of the power goes away from parents and children make their own decisions. Some parents face a battle with their children in school.

The school completion programme is invaluable, for example, in terms of its homework clubs. They are not just the standard approach of going there for an hour to do your homework; you get assistance with the homework, which can help with your day-to-day schooling. Play therapy and counselling are also provided, depending on the age. The approach taken must be age-appropriate. I know of families where there was a sudden bereavement that were, ironically, lucky enough to be in a school where the school completion programme was offered, and they were able to access play therapy and counselling. If they were not in such a school, it would have been a battle. They would have had to go through the child and adolescent mental health services, CAHMS, process and it would have been a disaster. Counselling is often done during school time. You are not putting a big red circle around children, which is so important. Children often do not even realise they are getting the supports. One school I am aware of had two homework clubs. One was provided as part of the school completion programme but no child realised there was any difference between it and the other homework club. That is invaluable because it breaks the stigma and labelling of children.

My party leader, Deputy McDonald, met people involved with the school completion programme in Kilkenny over the summer. We were able to meet people who had gone through the programme, who had finished school and gone into employment. They were success stories. The programme is amazing in terms of the work it does for the small amount of money that is provided. The Department of Education is the right location for the programme. I wanted to focus my remarks on it because I always take the opportunity to speak about the school completion programme. I extend an invitation to the Minister to visit the programme's office in Kilkenny. He would be welcome to visit either of the programme's offices in my constituency, even though the programme's remit is moving from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to the Department of Education.

See this speech in context