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

I am glad the Minister of State mentioned the students from Ukraine seeking refuge here. When the summer programme was recently published in The Irish Times, following the Minister of State's announcement, the headline in the newspaper stated "'Summer school' plan to include thousands of Ukrainian students", but the reality is they were only being allocated the places left over after the other groups of students listed in the guidance document. Migrant students, including those recently arrived in Ireland from Ukraine, would only have an opportunity to take part in inclusion programmes or if schools themselves decide to prioritise this group, but the Department has not prioritised these students and to suggest otherwise is misleading. In fact, it has been taken down the pecking order from last year's programme to this year's programme. The Department has also failed to provide adequate time for school leaders to confirm they have enough teachers and SNAs available to run the school-based programme.

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