Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

With due respect to the Minister of State, when I last raised a Commencement matter, it related to his Department, yet it was the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, who took it. Today, I am raising an education matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, is taking it. Neither situation is desirable.

It sounds like the Minister of State’s response was written by departmental officials and the Minister for Education has not had sight of it. It effectively says that the issue has nothing to do with the Department of Education and that there needs to be a Government resolution. The Minister for Education is one of 15 Ministers who sits at the Cabinet and makes the decisions. The response I was seeking was from her, not departmental officials. In this response, she is effectively a mouthpiece for them.

The response started by saying that a resolution was a matter for the Oireachtas. It ended by saying that it was a matter for the Government, that is, the Cabinet. If it is a matter for the Oireachtas, then I, as a Member of the Oireachtas, am saying that I want this citizens’ assembly to start immediately in January. I know that will not happen, though, because it is the Minister for Education who is a member of the Cabinet and who makes a decision on when the assembly will be held.

I want the Minister for Education to give a proper response. I want the Department of the Taoiseach to give a proper response. It is two months since the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use. While the biodiversity assembly was ongoing, we knew when the drugs assembly would start. Something political is delaying this assembly. Young people are approaching me.

I understand the frustration of departmental officials on this matter, as I know they are working on it, but what I have received today is not a response about progress at all.

I thank the Acting Chair for his leniency.