Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies once again for the questions. Deputy Ó Ríordáin raised the issue of senior cycle or leaving certificate reform. I assure the House that we are committed to ensuring that the leaving certificate is reformed and that it meets the needs of Irish students and the broader society and economy. Any system that does not evolve, no matter how highly regarded it is, will be overtaken by other countries where systems have evolved to prepare students for the ever-changing modern world. For example, the volume of data created and consumed over the past decade alone has increased by 5,000%. Ireland has a knowledge-based economy that thrives on the high quality of our graduates and workforce. Reforms have been made to date. It is not the case that the leaving certificate is the same exam that Deputy Ó Ríordáin or I did. Between 2016 and 2020 for example, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, undertook an extensive review of senior cycle programmes and vocational pathways to include transition year, the leaving certificate applied, the leaving certificate vocational programme, and the leaving certificate established as well as Project Maths. The review involved broad research and consultation and was published in March of last year. The three tenets of senior cycle reform are to empower students to meet the challenges of the 21st century; to enrich the student experience and build on what is good in our current system; and to embed wellbeing and reduce student stress levels. The move of paper 1 was intended as an interim measure to spread the assessment load and to reduce stress for students. It was intended that as many students as possible could feel some effect of the reform programme before the main reform programme was introduced. The Minister for Education has listened to concerns from teachers' unions, students, Conradh na Gaeilge and others about the impact of Covid-19 on this year's transition year students in particular. Students sought clarity on the planning for the remodelled papers and despite this work being very advanced, student representatives continue to have concerns. To bring clarity for all concerned and to allow more time for the introduction of a paper 1 at the end of fifth year in Irish and English the Minister made her announcement having briefed the Cabinet beforehand.

On the issue of dental waiting lists, I acknowledge they can be very long. I know of many cases in my own constituency that are similar to the one the Deputy mentioned and they are unacceptably long. There is engagement between the Government and the Irish Dental Association at the moment and additional funding has been provided in the budget for the dental treatment service scheme, DTSS, and we are keen to spend that money and to deploy it but we need to have an agreement with dentists on that, and we are examining whether we can use the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, to pay for some children to go privately if that is the only way they can get the dental care they need.

I have seen "La Haine". It is one of my favourite films and it is a particular portrayal, of course, of life in suburban Paris. I imagine there are other films also that might give a more rounded view but that is an aside. We do not have any plans at the moment to organise film screenings for staff but we encourage staff to attend the Dublin Film Festival to see whichever film they choose that they think they will find the most interesting.

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