Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator summed up the position very well. In my first months in this job, I have deliberately immersed myself in my new role. Visiting primary schools is a big part of this and it is obvious that there is momentum in primary schools. Teachers are embracing new ways of exploring the new world that we will live in. This is not being done in silos because there is co-operation and collaboration between primary schools, secondary schools and industry. More importantly, the third level sector is examining ways in which it can work in collaboration with primary school students. There is a creative world out there. The message coming from the classrooms is that students are embracing new ways of doing things but, ultimately, protections are in place and parents are very eager to ensure that there are protections for whatever form of access to online platforms their children are using. That is something of which I am conscious. Whether it is artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, robotics or automation, every sector is looking at the holistic development of young people, embracing that new world and giving our young people the coping and other skills necessary to face the challenges that new world presents. We want to develop coping skills in these young people. We are fortunate that teachers are rising to the challenge by retraining and reskilling. They are on their own learning curves. There is positive energy in this area.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I concur with her that there is an opportunity for people to feed into the new primary school curriculum changes. That door is wide open.