Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this timely and important motion.

We all received the briefing last week and it was one of the most intense briefings that I have attended to date. It was incredibly interesting to note that the role of principals has not been reviewed since 1974. We heard from a principal who is a special needs teacher four days of the week and principal for one day. That is not practical. The principal outlined that he is also a plumber when a pipe bursts. He described so many other roles that he undertakes because he is the principal of the school and the buck stops with him. He spoke about playing catch-up with emails until 1 a.m. On the day, he said that out of the seven principals who started together, he is the only one still standing in his position as the other six have left due to burnout and strain from the stress that they deal with in trying to keep the school going. He asked who would want to be on a ship with no one steering it.

They outlined that a number of grants and supports have been removed or cut. The cost-of-living grant, the enhanced cleaning and PPE grants and the ICT grant are gone. The latter disappeared once the free book scheme was announced. The summer programme has been cut by €15 per pupil per week. There has also been no audit completed after Covid - they pointed to a bit of a gap. All the while, they have had increases in school insurance costs and running costs. It is all pressure and that pressure gets passed on. I suppose the parents are feeling it too in terms of fund-raising and trying to do their bit to help the school.

They struggle immensely with not receiving their budget at the start of the school year. That is something I hope the Minister can look into as this is a practical step that the Department can take to ensure the school year starts on the right footing.

On the SET allocations, can the Minister and her officials trust the principals? That is what they have requested. They already do when it comes to such high levels of responsibility, so why not when it comes to providing the data on needs? We heard of a child with no hands having no supports in place come September. Instead, they will not come forward until the child is in the chair.

See this speech in context