Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of the bonus for healthcare workers. Again, the Government has given the resources to do this to the Department of Health and HSE. These are major employers but I am anxious that the front-line workers are suitably provided for with the €1,000 payment we have agreed. The Government decided this and the implementation is about to begin. There has been a lot of consultation with unions in respect of this and it is time for it to be implemented. We are not adopting in any shape or form a Scrooge-like mentality towards it.

I will engage with Deputy Paul McAuliffe again as he raises a very fair point in respect of the RTÉ Player and the difficulties that citizens in Northern Ireland have in accessing it. I will engage with him to see what we can do to work with the national broadcaster with a view to being of some assistance if that is possible.

Deputy Barry raised leaving certificate reform and today's announcement by the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, is radical and a watershed moment in the history of the leaving certificate. There will clearly be continuing engagement with stakeholders. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has published the various principles governing the reform. To have 40% of the process dealt with via continuous assessment is a massive change and it will require much in-service training as well on models of assessment and the science of assessment, which is quite involved. Teachers used to a State exam may not have had the same level of in-service training as will be required with this process. It is very exciting that there is to be a new subject of climate change coming to the curriculum, along with drama and film and so on.

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