Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

The title of this session is statements on a world-class education system. We must begin by saying we do get very good outcomes in many ways given Ireland is near the end or in the lower part of the OECD in terms of education spending, which is about 8% below the average. However, we would be wrong to think we have a world-class education system. We have an education system that is quite ableist, driven by results and focused on serving the needs of industry. There are, for example, the extra points introduced for maths, the whole points race and so on. We must put these provisos on the record.

We have a major crisis in what is called "special education". I do not particularly like that term because this is about education for every person, including anyone who is neurodivergent, autistic or disabled. It is really about inclusive education rather than about something special. We all know, though, that in the past anybody who fitted into those categories and did not conform was just omitted from the system at an early age as an early school leaver. I am sure the Minister of State has been at all the debates that have taken place here all week, so I will not rehash them. We need investment so we can recruit the staff, build the required buildings and, obviously, provide training. From having taught myself, I know it is a very particular area in which those working need specialist training.

In my area, we have the Danu 12. These 12 children were promised a place in the Danu special school but are now either sitting at home, staying in preschool or staying in unsuitable schools because the Minister of State's Department has not provided the modular building the school was promised. I know the Minister of State visited last week and listened to the issues in this regard. That is great and is appreciated. One of the issues, to which I will return later, is teacher recruitment and retention, which is a key problem. It is even more problematic for special education because it is just much more difficult. Is the Minister of State going to take any measures at all to address this issue? An example would be special allowances. There is a special allowance to teach in the Gaeltacht and one to teach on an island. There used to be loads of special allowances, even for comprehensive schools. The Government is not willing to look at this aspect and this is a real problem. I will come back to this point later.

We also have a situation in Ireland where parents have to campaign for schools. This does not happen in most other developed countries. I represent a very multicultural area. I regularly go to meetings and people from other countries just cannot get over the fact it is necessary to launch a campaign to get a school in Ireland. Obviously, it is even more necessary for special schools. We have this whole issue of temporary buildings.

Schools should be planned properly and tied in with development. We also have a problem with demographics with the Department of education continually in denial that when we build houses we will need schools and it just seems to be a real problem.

For example, the previous Minister said Ériu Community College did not need its own school and it is proposed to move that school 9 km away. It is a vast growing area. Tyrrelstown is also a fast-growing area. I will send details of 11 affected families to the Minister and she may be able to sort it out. There is no bus from Tyrrelstown to Onger where they have to go to school because they could not get into the local school. Bus Éireann has denied them school transport. Go Ahead has a bus but it does not operate in that area. What are they to do? Should they get one of the drones that plague the area?

We also have the ongoing saga of Castleknock Community College which will soon have 1,500 students. It is not the norm in Ireland to have a kind of high-school set-up. It does not have the pitches, facilities, etc., to deal with that. We also have ageing schools such as Coolmine Community School which was one of the first community schools in the country I believe. It has appealed to the Minister to access the emergency fund to repair the school roof. It has buckets on the floor. What sort of a system is that for about 1,000 students in the area? I ask the Minister to look into that. We need proper schools. We had a budget surplus for many years. Many students in St. Dominic's Community College cannot get into the transition year apparently because the funding for the school decreased which another real problem.

I also want to mention school type. We have seen many reports lately from TDs in the background saying it is nearly woke now to not want your child forcibly immersed into a religion. We need non-segregated schools, particularly in younger urban areas. In Ashtown on the Navan Road there is a massive demand from parents to have a multi-gendered multidenominational school; there is none in that area at all.

I want to discuss staff. Obviously, the education system thrives when it has committed staff. School secretaries balloted yesterday for strike action because of improper pensions and basically being treated very badly, as many women workers in this country are. It always seems to be women workers who are denied pension parity and are given precarity. We need to end precarity in education for SNAs and also for teachers.

I know the Minister has announced something recently. The teacher shortage is not really mentioned in the programme for Government at all. I am beginning to wonder if the Government is denying that there is such a thing. I can absolutely guarantee that there is, particularly in urban areas where rents are very high. In January the INTO estimated that there would be 2,767 primary school teacher posts unfilled, a third of all posts. In March The Irish Timesreferred to an unpublished Department of Education and Youth report which showed 400 unfilled second level posts and also an additional 800 posts where teachers were not qualified in those subjects. We all know we can turn our hand to a lot of things but teachers are just not as good if they do have not the love and the interest in that subject.

The Minister should look to Australia and the UK where they are taking massive measures to recruit teachers and to keep them. I know of Irish students who have gone to do their teacher training in the UK because they are getting paid the equivalent of the average industrial wage. They get paid even more if they are teaching a subject where teachers are in short supply. They are attracting young people to go and why would young people not go if they are getting paid the equivalent of a wage? Australia has introduced hard-to-fill allowances so if a school cannot fill a position, it can allocate an extra $20,000, for example. Those are the kinds of initiatives other governments are taking and there has not been a jot out of the Government here. We all know that unless it does that, it will not be able to solve the special schools crisis.

I will finish on leaving certificate reform. As an English teacher, I know it is wrong to make the leaving certificate 40% non-exam and allow students use AI. I know people can use AI but facilitating that is absolutely unbelievable. It will lower the standards in education completely. The Minister needs to listen to teachers on this. She needs to engage and not just set her face against that. Most of academia around the world is grappling with AI and trying to find ways to deal with it. We are in the very early stages. The Government seems to be saying, "Ah, sure look. We're done with that. Leave them off." However, many colleges and universities are coming back to exams rather than facilitating non-exam assessment because of AI.

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