Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for yesterday agreeing to bring in two Ministers before the House goes into recess but I ask her to also invite the Minister for Education and Skills. Last week, I raised some concerns about the challenges facing students and teachers in schools that hope to reopen in late August and September. It is vital that we be given the opportunity to engage with the Minister on that issue and on the issue of school transport to enable children to get to school. I also wish to engage with the Minister with regard to the new-build projects for St. Paul's secondary school, Monasterevin, for Coláiste Íosagáin, Portarlington and, most essentially, for a new school in the area around the Curragh, Newbridge and Kildare town.

It is important that we also have the opportunity to debate with the Minister in respect of another particular project, namely, the school completion programme. This programme was under the aegis of Tusla but has now moved back to its rightful home in the Department of Education and Skills. There are 120 such projects around the country which liaise and deal with approximately 460 primary schools and 240 post-primary schools. They deal with vulnerable children who are at risk of leaving school prior to a State examination year and with some children who have already done so. Those projects cater for vulnerable children. They are dealing with 12,000 children. I brought one such group, based in my own area of the Curragh, Kildare, to the Dáil last year. I know of the very valuable work it does. We have an opportunity to look again at the scheme and at the supports and resources needed now that it has moved back to the Department. It is an absolutely crucial and vital service. We need to look at it again and to debate with the Minister as to its potential to support children and families.