Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests this morning for coming in and giving their time to the committee. It is hugely beneficial. Something that struck me in the appendix was that, when it comes to physical education, 95% of post-primary schools have or have access to a hall. Some 72.5% of primary schools have or have access to a general purpose, GP, space. What percentage of schools have access to nurture spaces? What is the plan for primary and post-primary schools that do not have access at all to those spaces? One issue is consistently brought to my attention, particularly by parents. When they go onto the Department of Education's website, it is incredibly difficult to find the school planning areas, SPAs. We know the relatively common nature of people moving from one side of the country to the other to relocate or perhaps for work, whatever the case may be. Will the Department provide the committee with a definitive link to the school planning areas which is not a generic link to the Department of Education's website?

Another issue consistently brought to my attention in relation to the school planning areas is that the location of school buildings within those areas is often not conducive to the catchment area of the schools. I will give a very specific example. In Ballyogan, there is a school to the extreme right of the school planning area. Children in the adjacent estate have no access to the school because the catchment area runs to the left of the map, while the school is situated on the right. Has the Department examined this? How common is it? What is the plan to address it? Mr. Loftus spoke about a strategic and co-ordinated approach to this, which will be absolutely critical, particularly as access to higher education changes somewhat. In terms of buildings that cater for both further and post-primary education, what are the plans for those buildings to be separated into two distinct areas?

At the moment, there are a number where there are adult learners in the same building as post-primary learners.

I briefly raise the issue of Gaelscoileanna. Looking at the numbers of those who have been educated through Irish in recent years, the numbers that are in aonaid are increasing but the provision of Gaelcholáistí is not. Will the witnesses outline what the plan is for that? In the past ten years, the percentage of children attending Irish-medium primary school has barely changed at all while the number of children attending Irish-medium aonaid with a larger English-medium school has steadily increased. The reason I bring this up is because Irish schools, Gaelscoileanna, were shown in the recent report to be one of the most overcrowded classrooms in the country.

The provision of spaces for special educational needs, SEN, and autism spectrum disorder, ASD, were mentioned. They are absolutely welcome and very much needed.

Regarding schools that may be of an age, shall we say, where there is a need for adaptation for a child or children who may have a physical disability or mobility issue, how does that fit in to Department’s remit?

What is the key focus for the Department in respect of library spaces in the short term?

Currently, to the best of my knowledge, there is no mechanism for a school that is providing cold meals to change to hot meals. If that policy were to change, where does the Department's expertise come in to provide that space for a school that wants to provide hot meals rather than cold meals?

Regarding the work the Department is undertaking and the job of work that lies head in the next few years, how is it getting the skilled professionals it needs? How is the engagement with the principals and the asks of the principals changing and how do the witnesses see it changing into the future?