Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire go dtí an Teach seo tráthnóna. The Minister is welcome back to the House. Fianna Fáil is glad to support the Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill 2019, which proposes to require every school to prepare, publish and implement a student and parent charter. Each school's charter will adhere to national guidelines and be a valuable tool to ensure clear procedures are in place, that parents and pupils assume a greater role within schools, and that there is transparency in schools' decision-making. While trust in Irish schools and their management bodies is rightfully high, the current complaints system is unclear in some circumstances and may lead to some individuals being unable to find an avenue to have their complaints addressed. While such circumstances appear rare, thankfully, the formalisation of structures through charters is a necessary development. By allowing more complaints to be dealt with at school level by way of clear procedures to ensure consistent responses, the legislation should result in fewer complaints having to be dealt with overall. It is to be hoped the legislation will improve the enforcement and standardisation of responses to emerging challenges in the education sector in the years to come. Fianna Fáil has consistently raised the need to safeguard children from the negative impact of using digital devices. While the Government has issued circulars on the issue, evidence collected by education and training board, ETB, schools indicates that some schools are moving very slowly and are not keeping their policies up to date in this area. It is something to which the Minister might give some attention.

Fianna Fáil is in broad agreement with the Bill and is happy to support it. It provides guidelines for all stakeholders as to what the proper procedures should be. Happily, complaints are generally dealt with at local level and successful resolutions are found. That is the ideal situation. However, in a situation where that is not possible, we must provide a clear pathway for all involved as to what avenues can be pursued to find a resolution. There is currently no central data collection for complaints. It is to be hoped that will no longer be the case once this legislation is implemented.

My one concern, which I ask the Minister to consider, is that I am conscious that when new legislation and guidelines are introduced for schools, they add an additional burden on them and teachers. Our teachers work very hard and, by and large, do an excellent job. I am conscious, however, that from time to time we place additional burdens on them. New procedures are thrown at them and they are expected to get on with it. There will be additional responsibility and additional workloads for teachers and boards of management, of whose role I am also conscious, arising from this legislation. I hope the Minister will provide me with some assurance this afternoon that with this increased workload, additional resources will be provided to schools by the Department to allow them to embrace the provisions as intended by the Legislature. Will the Minister assure the House that schools will be given the resources to meet any additional workload or time required to implement the legislation?