Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I too would like to welcome the students to the Chamber. I hope they enjoy their day in Leinster House and experiencing our democracy. I wish to speak about two primary schools I visited in County Wexford recently, which show how the diversity of our school population has changed. I visited Kilrane National School near Rosslare Europort. I was brought around by the excellent principal Tom Cousins. The school has taken in more than 50 Ukrainian students over the last year because of its proximity to Rosslare. They have been very welcoming as a school. The Department of Education has put in place many resources but the school has been under pressure. I welcome the fact that there is an extension but I think it is also important to acknowledge the role of schools like Kilrane and what they have done. On Monday, I was at Bunscoil Loreto in Gorey, which has taken in a significant number of Ukrainian students. For Europe Day, under the leadership of the school principal, Aileen Kennedy, and a number of the amazing staff there, they performed "Ode to Joy" in six languages and musically. It reflects the diversity of our school system and we must acknowledge how the system - teachers, boards of management and students - have responded to welcoming those who have come here from Ukraine. We now know there are 14,931 Ukrainian students in our education system, which is a significant number. More than 5,000 of those are at second level. They are making a very active contribution to the school communities but Ukrainian is not, as yet, a school subject. I would like for us to look for Ukrainian to be introduced as a school subject at junior and leaving certificate levels. We offer a range of school subjects in other European languages and in non-European languages, including Japanese. As an understanding of the culture and language of Ukraine, for Ukrainian students, it is important they keep it up. For as long as Putin's war continues, we will be a welcoming home for many people from Ukraine. To do that, we must ensure they can maintain their culture while they are here. A significant number of them are going to stay here. It is important we work with the Department of Education and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, and in the same way we have expanded our language options to include Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian and Russian, all of which are welcome, introduce Ukrainian as a subject.