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

I thank the Deputies for their questions. In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, I understand what he is saying about complex and chaotic cases. I have come across them myself but as every case is different, it is difficult to comment without knowing the circumstances. I know the Deputy appreciates that.

A number of Deputies raised the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use which was discussed at Cabinet today. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, brought a memo to Cabinet establishing a dedicated committee, which will be made up, if I remember correctly, of 14 members, both Senators and TDs. The Independent Members will be asked to nominate a chairperson because it is their turn in the rotation. We expect it to be up and running next month or certainly no later than April. There are some technicalities around that. The committee is being given seven months to carry out its work and produce a report, but it does not have to take seven months. It could be done more quickly. It was pointed out to me by my staff who were involved in the citizens' assembly and by the chairman, Paul Reid, that because all of the different interest groups and experts appeared before the assembly, it is not necessarily the case that the special committee should have to do that all over again. Ultimately, it is going to be a decision for the members and the Chair as to whether they want to have everyone come in again or whether they would be happy enough to get it done in one day. That is their call, not ours.

What I would say in relation to the three takeaways from the report is that the chairman, Paul Reid, was very clear on these things. He said that we should have a dedicated committee and not just refer the report to the health or justice committee because it is about health and justice and a lot more. That is why we decided to go ahead with a dedicated committee. Another takeaway is that we should develop an Irish model that works for Irish circumstances and not try to copy a model from any other jurisdiction. He was also very keen to point out that while the citizens' assembly recommended decriminalisation and a health-led approach, it made many other recommendations as well. He was keen that this not just be about the issue of decriminalisation, how that works and what it would mean, important as that is.

Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about children who are in difficulty needing someone to go to and I know from my visits to schools and from talking to young people in primary and secondary schools that many schools have a school chaplain. In the past, that would have been a religious person but that is now normally not the case; it is a teacher with special training. We have increased the number of guidance counsellors too. I had a chance to visit Foróige services and Jigsaw services which are really good services, where they exist, but I appreciate that it may not be the case that every student in every school has access to the supports he or she needs.

On school visits, I do a lot of them too and I have to say when I visit primary and secondary schools around the country I am so impressed with how much education has evolved and now much more interactive it is now than it was when I was in school. There is so much more technology and engagement now. Technology being available to schools is really of huge and crucial importance.

I do not know if inspectors talk to students as part of carrying out inspections but I think they should do. If it is not done, it sounds like a good idea. Any time one inspects a service, one would often ask the service users what they think so if that is not done as a matter of course, I would agree with the Deputy that it ought to be done because it is really important to hear the voice of students when it comes to the quality of their education. It is their education in the end.

Finally, in response to Deputy O'Sullivan's question on the citizens' assembly on the future of education, we have not taken a decision on the timing of that yet but it is intended that it be done this year.

4 o’clock

I think we need to have it set up, ideally by the middle of the year. Citizens' assemblies do not fall when the Oireachtas falls, so the election date is not a determinant in that regard, but we would like to have it set up this year. The Minister, Deputy Foley, is working on the terms of reference for that.

See this speech in context