Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I spoke to another service provider based in Blacklion, which is way over in west Cavan. That service has a waiting list of roughly 60. One of the biggest problems there is not space; it is retaining staff because many staff are leaving to become special needs assistants, SNAs, and so on. In addition, many Ukrainian families have been moved into that area. Those parents cannot go out to work because they cannot source childcare provision meaning that neither the children nor the adults are being integrated into the community.

This has a knock-on effect on the local primary school because children will begin school aged four, which is younger than they should. Many of the children coming from Ukraine do not have English and it causes more problems for the school. The principal says the school is at capacity and has had to turn away children. He has looked for extra resources because Ukrainian children have come into the town at different stages. He wants to bring them into the school and include them but he is finding it very difficult. What additional resources have been put in place to accommodate Ukrainian families, both in the early childhood provision and - I know it is not the remit of the Minister - in primary schools because one is having a knock-on effect on the other?

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