Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the review of the programme. Some of the measures outlined will indeed assist. Last year, a significant number of schools contacted me about delays in providing details of the summer provision programme, which prevented them from being able to provide the programme to students. The timeframe meant they did not have time to prepare and organise summer provision. I wrote to the Minister of State in March urging her to release details of this year's programme as soon as possible because I was concerned that history would repeat itself. While nothing can done for this year, I urge the Minister of State to take seriously the matter being raised by schools and ensure the programme is advertised as early as possible next year.

I welcome the measures that have been taken. Have they been widely publicised and promoted to schools? We need to be as creative as possible to incentivise the greatest uptake possible. Has the Minister of State engaged with the trade unions and school management bodies about other forms of incentives? These could include expanding the hours available under home tuition and addressing the issues of late pay, additional leave and low levels of pay for SNAs. Has the Minister of State engaged with the unions and management bodies about ideas such as those?

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