Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo everything Senator Seery Kearney said, which she articulated very well. This is my first time engaging with the Minister in the Chamber. She is very welcome and I commend her on the work she is doing. I commend also the education committee on this important work led by my party colleague, Deputy Kehoe.

There are many lessons to be learned from Covid. One lesson I hope is learned loud and clear is that the first cohort who should have been brought back to school was those with disabilities who need special interventions and education and who benefit from SNAs, as Senator Seery Kearney mentioned. They were the people impacted most from not being in school. I am someone with a disability who attended school in the 1980s and 1990s, when there were no SNAs, support teachers, resource teachers or anything like that. In my school in Ennistymon, north County Clare - rural Ireland - I got a visit from a visiting teacher for the blind once or twice a year. To be fair to the other teachers, they stepped up to the plate, and I would not be where I am today but for the teachers in Ennistymon, County Clare, who went above and beyond the call of duty.

Teachers throughout the system go above and beyond the call of duty but, in particular, the SNA system and the resource teachers that now exist create so much equality of opportunity. They give people the leg up, the assistance and the supports they need to get to college. I was lucky, I got to college. I do not know how the hell I did but I did. It worked out okay and I am here today to tell the tale, but not everyone is as determined as that or has the support of family, community and so on to achieve that. The one lesson that needs to be learned from the pandemic is that the first layer that must be brought back to school is the pupils who need it most. It is reflective of our education system that the people we brought back first were leaving certificate and junior certificate students.I can understand why that happened but it is not necessarily the best thing for educating our society. We need a debate and a discussion on the future of education.

I have one final comment, although the Minister is probably sick to the teeth of listening to me talk. We need to look at the hybrid model. To be fair to the young people in fifth and sixth years, the crew doing the leaving certificate at the moment are probably the most impacted of any of the young people who have gone through the system during the pandemic. I know it is complicated. There is no junior certificate to base it off and it is not straightforward but the Minister might take a look at it and see if there is some way of accommodating that model. I wish the Minister well because it is not easy.