Results 81-100 of 6,154 for speaker:Cathal Crowe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: Thank you very much. The statement in full will be published on the committee website. Mr. Gillespie is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Mr. Ó Caoimh. Our committee is always very anxious to have the voice of young people in the room. We are delighted to have everyone here today but particularly Mr. Ó Caoimh. It is important that the voice of the student is heard here in Leinster House. Thank you and well done for you representative role in the ISSU. Our final contributor from our witnesses will be Mr. Jones.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Mr. Jones. We are now going to proceed to members' questions. I said earlier it was five minutes but it is actually going to be six minutes per member. Please leave adequate time within that to allow the witnesses to respond. I will allow a few seconds of an overrun but please do not ask your final question as we hit zero because that does not work at all. First up is Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: Please be cognisant of the time when responding.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I am conscious of the time. I ask Mr. Christie to be brief.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I thank the witnesses for being here this afternoon. I am guessing Mr. Ó Caoimh is in fifth year or sixth year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: Mr. Jones teaches biology. Does he teach any other subjects?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: The guidance counsellor bit will be very interesting because of some of my questioning. It is not surprising that Mr. Ó Caoimh has spoken about the stress involved. We are all hearing anecdotally from nieces, nephews and our children that this is a major factor. Something has to give. You cannot have this big cliff-edge examination. There is universal acceptance of that. However,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I apologise for cutting across Mr. Jones. I fully agree. We want to come back from that cliff-edge examination, but I do not think anyone wants the standard slipping as we try to move to a different model. Could Mr. Jones walk us through what a typical science lab looks like now if you open up the cupboards? Are there broken microscopes from the 1990s? What is in those cupboards? Is an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: He has a very informed opinion at that rate. In senior cycle, what would he say are the biggest stressors? Is it the volume of workload people have to complete, the study they have to do afterward or the homework and staying up until 10 p.m.? Is it the pressure of the ticking clock in the exam hall? What are the big stressors? What could be taken out from the current senior cycle, be it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Deputy O'Meara. I hope we will have a second round of contributions. I call on Deputy Ní Raghallaigh.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: We have enough time to do a second round of contributions. We will have three-minute contributions this time and in the same order. Like last week, we may have members coming back in near the very end but we will give it the best shot we can.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: That is very serious.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I am next up and I will come to that question in a moment. My first question is for Preston. What have you gone on to do since you completed your leaving cert?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: The reason I was asking was along the lines of what Deputy O'Meara mentioned. We often hear that everything we learn in secondary school is really important. I am not trying to take away from the project work and examination work when I say that it is also about the way we learn. I agree with Mr. Jones that it is not all about rote learning. There are many skills to learning. I was just...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I wish you the best for your gap year. I hope you will enjoy the college experience when you get there. In the time remaining to me, my last question is to Mr. Gillespie. This is along the lines of what Deputy Coppinger was asking. I was floored to hear that so many teachers are teaching out of field. How prevalent is that? When I was a primary school teacher, I had to try to cover...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: The clock is against us. If either of the unions obtain a data set on that in the coming months, I would appreciate it if they could share it with the committee. That would be of big concern. I compliment Deputy Coppinger on her line of questioning. Next up is Deputy Jen Cummins.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: The time has run out. I sincerely thank Mr. Ó Caoimh, Mr. Christie, Mr. Jones and Mr. Gillespie and I thank the organisations they lead. They represent the tip of an iceberg of teachers and learners. We very much appreciate their testimony. I thank them for coming in and sharing their insights. The discussion has been very informative. I thank the secretariat of the committee, as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Mr. Gillespie. I now invite Mr. Ó Caoimh to make his opening statement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann (22 Oct 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I welcome Ms Considine to the committee. I have known her for a long time, in Clare, and she has done a fantastic job with Shannon Airport, so we have every confidence locally and nationally that she will be an equally great leader in the Irish Rail organisation. I think Mr. Kenny for his continued work. I thank Ms Considine's predecessor, Mr. Jim Meade, who was a fantastic CEO of Irish...