Seanad debates

Thursday, 6 October 2016

Action Plan for Education: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Victor BoyhanVictor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank him for this positive report. The Minister has set out his five key goals. He has set out his objectives. He has set out timelines, a brave thing for any Minister to do. I was talking to the Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Simon Coveney, about the first quarter, the second quarter and the third quarter. I put it to him that we were heading into the fourth quarter but 32 objectives from the third quarter were not yet delivered by the Minister. It is a brave Minister who sets out his stall and timelines for delivery, but the Minister has done so and that is to be commended. I have no doubt about the Minister's extraordinary commitment to education. Moreover, I like the that he has an enterprising mind and is someone who has always promoted enterprise. I am pleased to see the greater synergy between enterprise and education and the effects of good education in terms of enterprise, people being better educated, participating in the workforce and the economic benefits of all of that. I see that peppered through the sentences and objectives of the document and I commend the Minister on that.

We are a republic. We need an education system that respects the true principles of a republic. I say that as someone who comes from the Church of Ireland tradition. I am critical of the Church of Ireland - I have no difficulty in saying as much - and the anomalies in this regard. I have seen too many Church of Ireland churches throughout Ireland who have fought tooth and nail to resist anyone outside their denomination coming to their schools on the basis of the Church of Ireland ethos. We have seen it in health but we still have it in education. This is something that I expected the Minister to address. Many people expected the Minister to crack this kernel. We cannot have an education system that segregates people. We had too much of it in Northern Ireland. No religion or faith or faith-based consideration should be relevant when it comes to entrance to a State school. I draw a distinction between a State school and a paying school. There are other issues about finance and how the State finances a private or fee-paying school. There should be no grounds for any discrimination relating to religion or absence of religion in State primary schools. This is the greatest single challenge for any Minister and for the State.

There is a Gaelscoil down the road from where I live. I am horrified even to share this with the House but someone told me recently that he put his children in the Gaelscoil because there would be no Nigerian children there. Many of these immigrants who have come to the country are struggling to learn English. That is a shocking, horrific and horrible statement for anyone to make. There are no catchment areas. There are people who live next door to the Gaelscoil near me but who cannot get access to it. They are told there is no catchment for Gaelscoileanna. This is a community school, but people living next door cannot get access, yet people from ten and 15 miles away can come to this school for various reasons. That is unacceptable on the watch of any Minister for Education and Skills.

We should not insist on segregation on the basis of gender for people in our State primary school system. It should not be tolerated. It should be a clear objective that it cannot happen any longer. We have to untangle the State system. We spoken about patronage and how in excess of 80% of patronage is under the Catholic Church. I have nothing against the Catholic Church. No religious group should be dominant. I want Muslims, believers, non-believers, Catholics, Anglicans and whoever to be able to go to their community school, local school or State school. I want us to allow them to nourish, grow and befriend each other in their communities. That is a major task. I will leave that thought with the Minister.

I wish to discuss education in prisons. I have been on the board of a number of prisons and I am familiar with the educational process. Traditionally, the vocational education committees operated schools in prisons.When the summer holidays come, suddenly the education programme stops. We are told the VECs cannot work in the summer yet the prisoners are there for three or four years. That is an unsatisfactory situation and I would like the Minister to look at the issue of the education of young people in prisons. This is about their futures but they are spending two or three years incarcerated in prison without the benefit of any education for three months in the summer.

The plans for apprenticeships and training are very good but to tie them into the rebuilding Ireland programme we will need to plan from now into the future in those areas. Many people leave school at 14 or 15 and are marginalised through no fault of their own. They cannot engage in education and emotionally cannot connect because they have been damaged by circumstances beyond their control. What are we doing for these people? We need to accommodate them and offer them other forms of training. Many do not even have the academic qualifications to get onto apprenticeships. They have the barest numeracy and literacy skills but they come to my office saying they want training. Surely they are entitled to training and should be assisted in finding it. I want more emphasis on training and assisting people. We are all learning and education is an ongoing process.

This is a good policy and I am not here to knock it. The Minister has set down his plan, vision, objectives and timelines and I hope they go well for him. As politicians, our job is to review them next year and the year after and ask the Minister how he has delivered. If he has not delivered we have to ask why. It is a two-way process and I agree with him about scripts. I am not in the business of writing scripts but I passionately believe in education and in giving people opportunities.

I urge the Minister to support those in prison and those who feel left alone. It is not that they do not have any capacity or ability but they need assistance and support in the form of really imaginative training and apprenticeship schemes. We need to bring everyone along so that they can also enjoy success because everyone has a right to develop and maximise their potential. I do not doubt the Minister's commitment but I would like him to focus on the issues I have raised.

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