Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These children, from fourth, fifth and sixth classes represent their classes. I ask the children from fourth, fifth and sixth classes to put their hands up. Well done. I am so proud of each and every one of them. I thank the teachers, Edel Moriarty and Declan Rynne, who brought the students to Leinster House today. This is my first school tour group and it comes from my primary school. It is the school that I have been talking about in here. We have been fighting for a school building for nearly 27 years since the school amalgamated. We are still fighting for a school building. It is going to happen and there is going to be a fantastic new space for children there. The children represent 20 or 30 nationalities. We have so many nationalities in our schools across Ballinasloe, representing such diversity. This school is absolutely magic because I know the children have been fantastic at outdoor sports. I know they are very interested in working with their teachers and they have been great at doing lots of activities in school. They work very hard with their teachers to make sure that they are going to be proper representatives for their classes. I talked to them this morning. They told me that they are going to try to listen to other students and make things better. I just thought that, in a nutshell, this is exactly what each and every one of us as public representatives do every day. It is about listening to people and trying to make things better. I hope the students have a wonderful day. They will enjoy walking around and they will see lots of things. I know that in another ten or 20 years we will see some of these students back in here. Who knows? They may be in the Seanad or in Dáil Éireann. I am looking forward to it. They have taken the first step to representing their school and their classes. I am very proud of them. I thank them for coming up today.