Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are all facing the challenges of living with Covid but it is really important that we give people hope. We are going to overcome this. As the Minister of State has said, there is good news about the vaccine. We must develop a strategy that builds on the community resilience we have had to date and looks at communities coming out of this. This is about our artistic, sporting and community groups coming together. This impacts on all of us but as Senator Clifford-Lee noted, it particularly affects young people and I will focus on this aspect.

The Minister is probably aware of an excellent piece of work by the then Department of Children and Youth Affairs and SpunOut around young people's experiences during this period. Much of the language used in it is quite concerning. Young people are anxious, isolated and worried.That is particularly the case because many of the avenues that were open to those aged from 17 to 20 years old are now closed. Gyms are closed, many sporting activities are restricted and access to arts, drama and music activities is also restricted. The last thing someone aged 18 or 19 years old wants to do on a Friday night is to sit at home with their mam and dad watching television. They want to be out.

We are all lucky here because we can remember that time. It was the time of our learning experiences, the summer of our leaving certificates and when we went to college, and the joy of all that. It was when we went to nightclubs and, yes, when we got the shift, when we got into a relationship and when we learned about ourselves. Those things all make people smile, but they were important rites of passage. A whole generation of young people are now in danger of losing all that. We must focus on that aspect, specifically, as we come out of this situation. We can never make it up to those young people, but we must ensure they have support. I am aware that additional supports have been made available on the mental health side of things at second and third level.

I will deal with some specific issues. There is still concern regarding the leaving certificate. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, is correct in stating that students will be sitting the traditional leaving certificate in 2021. The problem, however, is that many teachers are working on the basis of plan B, and they are assessing more and more. I noticed today that there was talk in Wales about a return to predictive grading in 2021. That is obviously causing concern. I encourage engagement with the Irish Second-Level Students Union and that students be kept informed about what is happening.

Student nurses are the other specific group in this area. Their position has come up regularly, and it falls between the remit of the Minister for Health and that of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris. They have been at the forefront of this fight during this period without compensation. It has been promised that that would happen and the Minister, Deputy Harris, promised that he would address this issue. The other concern I have regarding this matter concerns the experience that many of these young student nurses have had and the trauma that it will cause them. Given that experience, it is absolutely essential that they are given support to ensure they remain in nursing.

I know I have spoken about this a great deal. I have great faith in our young people. They have shown great resilience and they are helping us to this situation. Young people in arts, sports, technology and science are doing wonderful things, but they are losing all their rights of passage. We must ensure that they are at the centre of our strategy for living with Covid-19.