Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister highlighted that a lot of work is going on. She also mentioned the potential for legislative changes in her initial response. She has said this several times. I note she said this to the press a year ago following the announcement of the Flourish programme, she said it during the contribution in November at the second reading of our Bill and she has just mentioned it. What legislative changes does she anticipate may have to be made in order to standardise this? Is it something we can expect in the legislative programme before the end of the year, for example? I am very conscious that all this good work is somewhat meaningless if there is no standardised approach across schools. Some schools can say they will initiate the rights of the child to access this information as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and some schools may simply say they will not do that, and if students want that information they should go home to their parents who may be able to give it to them. It requires legislative changes. Does the Minister agree with that? When can we anticipate seeing them? If it will not be in nine months, will we see those changes this year?

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