Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of course, I can imagine that. Everyone in this House deals with these issues every day and I have nothing but empathy and sympathy for principals, staff members, the schoolgoing children and their families and, indeed, the Deputy and his staff, who have to deal with this matter. That is why I will undertake to bring this to both the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, who are absent, to make sure the case he has put forward so eloquently this evening is relayed to them in a proper and timely manner.

More widely, the Department of Education is progressing work on considering the allocation of resources to all schools. The OECD review will be complemented by a programme of work by the Department that will consider the allocation of supports within the DEIS resource model. This will involve consultation with stakeholders, including school communities. Scoil Bhríde Lann Léire will be very welcome to participate in that process. Along with the Deputy and everyone else in this House, I appreciate more than most the pressures on school principals, particularly in difficult schools or where they are teaching principals. While there is a rigidity with regard to appeals, we always need to be empathetic to the situation they are coming from and to react responsibly as we try our best, as both advocates and legislators, to make their lives a little bit easier and to make things easier for those communities in which they are teaching.

The work I have mentioned will be considered by the Department and Minister as part of wider policy formulation aimed at supporting all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, through their education and to achieve their potential. I do not need to go into the details of them because the Deputy will be aware of the many increases in teachers, special needs assistants and funding within the programme but these are also crucial in continuing investment in all education in this State.

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