Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With the greatest of respect, I cannot look a teacher or principal in the eye and say, "I know you really want resources but there is an OECD review". I cannot do that with any sort of straight face. I get incredibly frustrated when Government representatives tell me that some children who are disadvantaged do not go to DEIS schools. Every child who goes to a DEIS school, particularly in an area of profound disadvantage is a profoundly disadvantaged student. The school is their only hope and only chance. It really is. Without these very specific trauma-based supports, which principals have outlined, we are losing these children. We are losing them day after day. We do not have the time for an OECD review.

I suggest that the urgency with which principals have presented this to me is the type of urgency the Minister and her Department need. It is not a big ask for these trauma-based supports that principals feel would be an intervention that could save some lives, or certainly prevent a child from going in a wrong direction. With the greatest of respect, I ask the Minister to please not tell me about disadvantaged children going to non-DEIS schools and the expansion of DEIS services, but talk to me about the most disadvantaged schools, the most disadvantaged children within those schools, and what we can do to assist the principals who are asking for this very specific support.

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