Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

During the Taoiseach's maiden speech in June 2020 following the election, he mentioned the school completion programme. I do not know whether he knows that school completion co-ordinators and project workers throughout the country were delighted that it was mentioned in his maiden speech. As he probably knows, I worked for a school completion programme, Ballymun Anseo, as Deputy Paul McAuliffe knows because I had his head melted about the school completion programme. I am now here, so I will melt his head again. When will the Department of Education finalise the governance and employment structure for the school completion programme? It is very difficult to work as a co-ordinator or project worker when you are uncertain what the future will be. We work with the most vulnerable children in the country aside from children with special educational needs. This is very important for vulnerable workers, especially those working in Tusla. Educational welfare officers and home school liaisons have steady employment, but school completion co-ordinators do not. We need to know when an answer will be provided in respect of this matter. I appreciate the Taoiseach's championing of the school completion programme for the past number of decades.

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