Marie Sherlock
Dublin Central · Labour Party · Ireland
“That is why I want to see our local authorities moving from being just bystanders that license waste collection companies to actually controlling how the service is delivered.”
“That is why I want to pay tribute to all the people who are here today, including Stoneybatter Pride of Place, Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns and all the people working within their communities to keep them clean.”
“Panda’s parent company, Beauparc, sold for €1.3 billion in 2021 to an Australian investment firm. It is also co-owned by a US private equity firm. They are not in Ireland for the good of their health. They are here because they know they can make serious money. We know Greyhound’s parent company is registered on the Isle of Man.”
“The other important thing to say is that we did not hear any new ideas today, and I say that with the greatest respect to the Minister of State. We did not hear any ideas with regard to the profound challenges we have regarding our plateauing recycling rates and all the other issues that are there. That is disappointing.”
“I pay tribute to a lot of the work that many officials and workers in Dublin City Council do because, in some ways, their hands are tied behind their back. They recognise the issue with regard to landlord responsibility. I am very disappointed to hear the Minister of State's comments about landlord responsibility.”
“Dublin City Council was able to negotiate for the installation of ten-tonne compactors in the commercial areas, yet when it came to the residential areas, I understand the council tried to negotiate with the bin collectors on the roll-out of shared collection systems, but to no avail. That pretty much sums up our dysfunctional system.”
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“It is telling that the HSE had to come in particularly in terms of the briefing on Friday on the set-up of the external review and that it is the HSE, as opposed to CHI, that is very much, along with the Department of Health, leading on this. I want to make clear, I suppose, from many of my conversations on the ground that I understand the new CEO of CHI is somebody who people speak very highly of. That is very welcome but I am not sure that, in itself, enough anymore in terms of the governance of CHI. On the Simon Thomas report, I have a number of questions. Why is the review only going back to 2010?”
“We have also been looking at the reports of the legal advice the Minister's predecessor received last year with regard to that substantive and fundamental change of governance at the top of CHI. To be clear, we in the Labour Party will not be found wanting if legislation is brought to this House in terms of ultimately bringing the board of CHI under the full operational oversight of the HSE because to have a situation, as we have had over recent weeks, where the HSE is effectively accounting for the failures of an organisation which it does not have full operational control over and oversight of is simply daft.”
“When we looked on Sunday at the internal inquiry in CHI and its stunning revelations, on top of the appalling allegations that children were not cared for in a timely manner and that there was a possible abuse of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, it is incredible that it seems the Department of Health, the Minister herself and the HSE appear to have been kept in the dark. It is a reflection of the level of dysfunction at the top of CHI that that was not communicated to the Minister and the Ministers of State, in particular because of this semi-permanent state of crisis that CHI finds itself in. I very much welcome the moves the Minister made over the weekend. I welcome the appointment of the HSE board members and the enhanced operational oversight by the HSE.”
“If I counted correctly, we have had four externally-commissioned reviews over only three years in CHI, each looking at a specific aspect of care in CHI. Of course, three are published and we are waiting for the Nayagam report. Two have, I suppose, what I might call systemic recommendations - both the Boston hospital review and HIQA's. Obviously, the Mr. Simon Thomas report was more confined to pelvic osteotomies but between Boston hospital and HIQA, we have had 59 recommendations, if I counted them correctly. Many of these recommendations arise from the same conclusion that there were systemic cultural, clinical and management failures and point to the same fundamental reforms. Of course, some of these recommendations date back to 2023 and we are still not in any way clear that those reforms are fully under way.”
“I welcome that we are having statements on this this evening. Although I, for one, would much rather we were talking about all the many other issues in the health service, such as the huge inequalities we see, particularly in the primary care system, we are back again talking about CHI this evening. When we look at the revelations at the weekend on top of the report last week, we are seeing anxiety levels among parents go through the roof in terms of their questions about trust and confidence in the individual hospitals that make up CHI. From talking to doctors and nurses in CHI, I am struck by how morale is on the floor. This drip feed of revelations is so damaging to the excellent work that so many of them are providing day in, day out.”
“I do not want to take away from Shane and the O'Farrell family today in any shape or form but I want to reflect very briefly on the fact that this coming Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of a young man, whose family Deputy Gannon and I know well, going into Store Street Garda station for a minor misdemeanour and coming out unconscious. For the family of Terence Wheelock, the pain and festering anger and frustration at the wrong they believe was inflicted on their brother lives on to this day. There are other families across this State who have been wronged by An Garda Síochána and the criminal justice system who have to fight on and who may never have had the energy the O'Farrell family has shown. The O'Farrell family has been a great inspiration. I am very glad that we are here today.”
“I welcome that the O'Farrell family have finally got an apology today. Is it enough? I do not know but we all very clearly know that we are only here, 14 years on from that young man's death, because of the sheer persistence, tenacity and fight of a family. Lucia, Jim, Hannah, Gemma, Pia and Amy, you have been fobbed off and told that Shane was to blame for his own death. No family in this State should have had to put in the effort you have had to put in over 14 years, day and night, but you have had to and it is only because of all of that effort and heartbreak that we are here today. I hope today will give you some peace. You have been an inspiration for other families who have been wronged by this State.”
“There is a fundamental inequality in our health system. I want to hear an explanation from the Taoiseach as to why the Government is now opposing that aspect of the EU directive to broaden access to medicines-----”
“There is a reality for public health patients that they have less access to lifesaving drugs compared to private patients and patients in the North, the UK and other countries. We know that only about one third of medicines approved by the EMA ever get authorisation to go on the market and onto the reimbursement lists here. An EU directive is aimed at broadening access to medicines. In recent days, we have read that the Government has now done a U-turn and is opposing aspects of that important EU directive. I get that there are almost 50,000 well-paid pharmaceutical jobs in this country and that we need to look after those jobs. There is a reality as well, in that we are talking about people's lives here and their inability to access lifesaving drugs because they cannot afford to pay.”
“These are vital beds for stabilisation, recovery and step-down. They are beds that will save lives. Where is the money to open these beds? Will the Taoiseach stand over a situation where the State has provided capital investment that is not being put to use? Will he commit to doing much more for drug treatment services in this country?”
“Ireland has one of the highest numbers of drug-induced deaths in Europe. We desperately need more services to save lives. Yesterday, the Health Research Board published numbers showing 128 people died while homeless in 2021. The overwhelming majority, almost 86%, had a history of substance misuse. There were 128 lives cut short way too early and, for the most part, that could have been prevented. The State, to its credit, spent almost €36 million building a 100-bed treatment and recovery unit in Usher Island in Dublin 8 to be run by the Dublin Simon Community. It is one of its kind in Europe. However, as of today, only 51 of those beds are available for use, while of those beds are sitting empty, all because the Department of Health has yet to provide funding which was committed to back in 2019.”
“I believe that this approach is wrong because we are condemning far too many people who want to work in the home care sector to a life of precarity. The Government has to reverse tack and ensure that more people are employed by the HSE. We see in the nursing home sector that people want to work in HSE-run nursing homes. They are leaving private sector nursing homes because of the pay and conditions. In the home care sector, we need to make sure there are more HSE bodies on the ground delivering those vital services to people in order that they can stay in their homes.”
“Here in Dublin, there is not as big a problem as there is in Cork and Kerry. I know from my family members where I come from originally that people who need that care are not accessing it because the bodies are not on the ground. That is down to pay, the inconsistency of hours, the lack of certainty with regard to hours, and the travel allowances. Ultimately, it is an allowance by the Department of Health, the HSE and the Government of this day to ensure that whatever growth we have had in home care support is by the private sector as opposed to the HSE. In order to ensure we have proper terms and conditions for those workers, we need to ensure they are going to be HSE workers. If we look at recruitment over the past number of years, we see that the HSE hours grew by 12% between 2020 and 2024, as opposed to 36% in the private sector.”
“We know there were just over 1,500 public health nurses - 1,507 - in February of this year. That is down from 1,539 in December 2019. Obviously, our population has grown since then and the need within our population has also grown since then. As we know, public health nurses make very important decisions in the community with regard to who can access home care packages and equipment. If we do not have enough of them, there are going to be massive issues. We saw that earlier this year, particularly in my own area, where developmental checks for infants had to be scaled back because of a staffing issue in CHO 9. We know, just as crucially, that older people are suffering because we do not have enough people on the ground. The other key point is the postcode lottery for home care support.”
“In far too many areas, I see there is little or no occupational therapist advice, so families have to figure it out for themselves. I am reminded of a number of people coming to me over the last 12 months and being utterly baffled as to how they can help their spouse remain at home, try to procure the various equipment, and care for them. There is no centralised point of information. The public health nurse system should be that point but when we look at the figures, we see that there are fewer public health nurses now across the country than there were in 2019. That is damning of this Government. It is a reflection of the complete under-resourcing of community health nursing. It is a reflection of the lack of understanding and the lack of importance applied to public health nurses, which is a vital role in the community.”
“This Government needs to change tack and ensure that all efforts are put towards launching that statutory right in the immediate future. The importance of that statutory right is absolutely plain to see in respect of the growing share of older persons we have in our communities, the longer life expectancy, the desire to be looked after at home and, of course, the better health outcomes when people are looked after at home. However, we currently have a haphazard system of care in the community. There is an irony in the fact that you have a right to be looked after in the hospital system but no right to be looked after at home, and that has given rise to this haphazard system where there is inconsistent access to public health nurses, and a postcode lottery with regard to where you can access home care supports.”
“I thank Deputy O'Flynn and his group for this important motion, which raises a whole raft of really important issues with regard to care in the community and at home, and indeed for any person with care needs. While most of the conversation today is about older people, it is about care right across the ages. It is five years since the Minister of State's Government committed to a statutory right to home care support. I must tell him that I am now probably more pessimistic than ever that it is going to be delivered by the Government any time soon, particularly when we hear from the Minister for Health that the funding is still being considered. There is a real concern now that if we are going to wait for the various ducks to be put in a row, we are never going to have it.”
“Now the Government needs to seriously rethink the progressing disability services strategy and the Roadmap for Service Improvement 2023-2026. We need to have a fundamental rethink of how, where and when these services are provided to children because the current system is not working. When I say that, I do not mean they should be getting anything less than they deserve or any diminution of the service to which they are entitled but we need to have a rethink of how things are being done.”
“In just three years, there has been a 199% increase in the number of children waiting over one year for their initial assessment for speech and language therapy. For psychology, the number of those waiting over a year has jumped 170% in just three years. There are 11,552 vulnerable children out there deemed to need psychology supports who have been left waiting for over a year. It is absolutely heartbreaking. What damage is this State doing to those children by failing to provide those supports? The horrible reality is that the number of staff who have been recruited in that time has been a tiny fraction of the twofold increase. It is a reflection of a system that is truly broken and desperately failing these children. We are all aware of the crucial need for timely intervention for children.”
“I recall a time when the CDNTs in my area would say to me that they could not assess until they were ready to provide treatment of therapies to the child. I did not like the answer at the time but they were right. However, even now, those children who have got the assessment of need are waiting another three to four years and that is wrong. The distress and upset out there is absolutely enormous. Families who have been left waiting for so long are now having their hopes dashed and replaced with a seething frustration. They have a document to say which therapies the child needs and yet they have no idea when they are going to get them. This is the abject failure of the State to provide for some of our most vulnerable children. When we look at the waiting times for those children who have been assessed, it is really astounding.”
“The vast majority of the statements here today reflect the absolute anger we all feel about the shambles in the assessment of needs. I refer to the shambles of the 529.77 whole-time equivalent unfilled posts in the CDNTs, the failure to retain staff in both primary care and the CDNTs, the reliance on private assessments because the State cannot get its act together and the devastation for parents as they watch their children regress because they cannot access the services they need. I wish to reflect on what comes after a child eventually gets their assessment of need. In many cases they are waiting three or four years, particularly in my area in the northside of Dublin, for that to happen. Then, of course, they wait another three to four years for those therapies.”
“These are individuals who, if they happen to sell a piece of work or receive some grant funding, live from bank transfer to bank transfer. The only regular funding most of them have is this allowance. Out of respect to them, I would like to hear some assurance from the Department as to when the last payments will issue under the current scheme.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive response. Notwithstanding all of the detail provided, the question still remains as to whether artists can have any assurance that the payments they receive will end in August or in December, given that the scheme is fully funded to the end of the year. When the review is complete and a decision is made, it will take time to revise some of the criteria relating to the scheme. In particular, I am extremely mindful of artists with a disability. Those who are in receipt of a disability allowance or blind pension were, unfortunately, excluded to a greater or lesser extent from the basic income because of the means test and the assessment of income. Time is very tight here. August is only three months away.”
“The reality has traditionally been the opposite; people needed to have very difficult years before achieving success. This is not only about income; it also relates to the artistic space. The Minister of State will have heard me speak about that on many occasions in the Seanad. Today, it is about the basic income scheme and ensuring it continues. I would like to hear the detail of the process and what will happen post August.”
“People who have approached me wonder if they will be able to pay their rent after August, continue with the successes they have had over the past three years and be able to plan their artistic career to the end of 2025 and beyond. Failure to renew the scheme would be devastating for many in the sector. There is a huge appetite for the scheme to be extended. There were 8,200 applications for the scheme in 2022. Less than quarter were successful. The cost of the scheme is a drop in the ocean compared with the amount of money spent in other areas. For €35 million, the State gets quite a good return from supporting artists and ensuring that they can get on with their craft and, ultimately, that we live up to the notion that we are supportive of the arts.”
“The basic income can be construed as a handout, but it is not. It effectively gives artists, particularly early career artists but also those who have been around a number of years, the opportunity to devote time to their art. Successive reviews of the scheme have demonstrated that those in receipt of the scheme can spend more hours on their art, do not have to hold down other jobs and that there is a return to the arts from the scheme. Of what is spent, about 40% of the basic income goes back into the arts. Ultimately, this is about work. The arts are often seen as fluffy. It is about work and the dignity of those who have a particular talent or creative form and want to give their lives to that.”
“This matter relates to the basic income for those involved in the arts. This is a ground-breaking scheme that threw a lifeline to 2,000 artists in 2022. I wish to get assurances from the Minister of State as to what will happen in August when the three-year lifetime of the scheme expires. Many artists are anxious about what is likely to happen. A review is under way, which is absolutely acceptable and understandable. We must make sure that there is good use of public money. However, there is not much clarity as to the process involved here, when details will be published and when those currently in receipt of the basic income will be told what their future is going to look like. Will they be able to reapply? If so, when will the relevant process open? Those are the questions many of them are asking.”
“An additional line has to be put in. I have spoken to a number of pharmacists - not just one - and they have told me that there has been no communication with them about what will be added to the software to link them to the PCRS by 1 June.”
“It is extremely foolish to assume that the pharmacy sector is like what it was 20 years ago. This is about recognition and respect for what pharmacists are delivering. A figure of €6.50 was agreed for the contraception scheme. I get that a negotiation has to take place - I come from a trade union background - but to my mind, no negotiation took place here. With regard to the IT system, I have looked at the software.”
“----- has form on this. With regard to the Covid vaccination, the first pharmacists heard of it was through the airwaves. The prescription extension scheme was introduced last September, and no homework was done on it. GPs are writing "do not repeat" scripts. There was no fee agreed with the pharmacists. The scheme is not operating as intended. On the fee itself, there is a sense out there that the diktat of €5-----”
“This is going on right across the country at this point in time. The second issue is the IT system. I do not know if the Minister has looked at this but there is a key issue about adding that into the software. There has been no information to date on that. The third issue is co-operation with the sector. With the greatest of respect to the Minister, the effective use of power means sitting down and talking. Going on to Joe Duffy to issue a diktat is not how to go about it. The Department has-----”
“I thank the Minister for the reply. At the heart of this mess are women on HRT and the women who could be on it. For non-GMS patients, the cost is €35 to €70 per month. This is a serious amount of money for many women. I am hugely passionate about this scheme but this crack of announcing first and working out the details later is simply unacceptable. There are four key issues here, the first of which is the lack of HRT. We want to give out free HRT and yet we know there are enormous stock shortages in the system. Pharmacists now are having to seek out unlicensed medicines, which are not recognised with the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, and costing on average €15.90 while the GMS is only paying €6.47. It is either the patient or the chemist who will have to absorb that greater cost.”
“I put it to the Minister that 1 June is 19 days away. The majority of pharmacists I have spoken to - and I have spoken to many - tell me they are not signing up to the free HRT scheme. I understand that no communication has been made to the pharmacists about the software. It is my understanding that the providers of the software have not been given any information by the Department about adding free HRT to the system. Most pharmacists are opposed and no IT system is in place. What actions has the Minister undertaken to ensure the women of this country can access free HRT from 1 June?”
“In the care home previously, if that woman wanted to have three slices of chocolate cake, she would be warded off that and told it is going to have a negative and adverse impact. Now, however, that family is telling me they are powerless to intervene. If this adult wants that, she is going to get it. The reality is we have to have a much better balance between looking after the welfare and well-being of these individuals, while absolutely recognising their right to make decisions where it is possible.”
“At the heart of the UNCRPD, which has been ratified by Ireland, is that we obviously want to promote and move away from the paternalistic attitudes towards those with intellectual and physical disabilities in this country to ensure they have their human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, we also have to consider when those disabilities may actually impact on their decision-making. I believe the legislation as currently drafted is too blunt in that regard and that there is confusion within the providers of care in this country. I will give the Minister of State one example. I met a couple in February who talked to me about their daughter. She is in her 40s, and she has a particular condition where she has to be careful about the sugar she takes because of the various impacts.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that. It is important to understand and listen to the experience of those who have the working knowledge of how this Act has operated. Five years is simply too long a period for a review of this legislation to take place. I want to relay to the Minister of State some of the views of the Huntington's Disease Association of Ireland, which talks about how the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act upholds a person's right to refuse services, but that robust checks are required to ensure a person's disability does not lead to a violation of their human right to health and social care, welfare entitlements, family relationships, social engagement, protection from exploitation, nutrition, housing, etc.”
“I have had parents come to me with very serious concerns about the care of their adult children now within certain institutions in this country because of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act in terms of the level of autonomy in decision-making that is being given to their child, which may actually go against their health and well-being.”
“I want to cover the significant issues with regard to the decision-making representative, DMR. I know of one gentleman who went through the courts process, which legal aid did not fully cover, by the way, because he had to pay for the capacity assessment for his sister. He went through all that and then he came to us when he had to submit the initial report, and then what will come up next year is the annual report. It is 34 pages long, it is not downloadable, and it is tortuous in terms of filling out.”
“We need clarity between what the DSS is saying and what the Department of Justice is saying. Then, we have difficulties with recognising an enduring power of attorney. In one case, a woman had to battle with a fair deal office, then AIB and then Aviva just to have the enduring power of attorney recognised in terms of dealing with her dad's affairs. The Decision Support Service was of zero help in this regard. The process as she described it was absolutely tortuous. Is it any wonder we have seen a reduction in numbers in the EPA process over the past two years? The other critical point is with regard to the wardship system. By 26 April next year, all wards of court are supposed to exit the system and yet we have seen a very small number of those voluntarily exiting the system. What is going to be done in that regard?”
“A number of families told me they have spent thousands of euro trying to complete the process of registering for enduring power of attorney. One family spent €4,800. That is the very opposite of what the Act set out to achieve. It is downright exclusionary of the very people we are seeking to try to help here. We have confusion about the role of the solicitor. Obviously, we have the 2024 practice instruction from the Law Society of Ireland with regard to engaging only with applicants from start to finish as opposed to just for the legal practitioner statement. The Decision Support Service, DSS, told one constituent of mine there are only three solicitors in the country who are willing to do that single piece of the legal practitioner statement. That is contradicted by the replies to parliamentary questions I have received.”
“The frustrations relate to access to the system of registering for an EPA, the cost, the length of the procedure and who recognises it. It is supposed to be a legal document and yet I have accounts of banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions that are refusing to recognise an enduring power of attorney. The anger relates to the decision-making representative piece as well where parents are forced to go to court just to represent the needs and well-being of their adult children or siblings. They have very serious concerns about how onerous the bureaucracy is around all that and the costs, but also in terms of the balance of rights and responsibilities. I believe there are four key concerns.”
“I am calling for an urgent and speedy review of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. Many of us recognise and applaud the intent and ambition of the Act in supposedly giving greater power and autonomy to vulnerable individuals and to significantly increasing the numbers registering enduring power of attorney, EPA. The reality has proved very different, however. I want to relay to the Minister of State the enormous frustration among many people with the operation of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act. This is not about one single piece of the Act but about the operation of both the enduring power of attorney and the operation and bureaucracy around that, the decision-making representative and the process of registration.”
“For as long as the Department of Education takes that approach to the running of schools in this country, we will not make any progress. I am reminded of an issue I dealt with in respect of a school in Donegal a number of years ago. A Catholic school wanted to become co-educational. It was as simple as that. The board, the staff and the parents all wanted it but the Bishop of Derry was opposed to it and delayed it for a long period. Section 62(4) of the Education Act makes provision for the board to eventually effectively overrule the patron but the Department of Education provided no support to the school at that time. It is not a widely known part of the Act. The Department needs to take a much more active and robust approach to divestment.”
“This effectively exempted schools from equality legislation and allowed them to discriminate against LGBT teachers, unmarried parents and divorced teachers on the grounds that they might undermine the ethos of the school. It is just over ten years ago that this appallingly discriminatory legislation was repealed. Progress is tortuously slow in the education space. I am reminded of the forum on education that ran from 2011 to 2016 and the campaign for divestment that came out of it, which was spearheaded by Ruairí Quinn. Progress has ultimately been way too slow and insignificant, as we see reflected in the motion. The reason is that most of the power remains with the patrons. The approach the Department of Education has taken to the divestment process has been far too hands-off.”
“We should go larger than the citizens' assembly model and ensure that all stakeholder voices, the voices of children and youth themselves and the voices of randomly selected members of society are part of that conversation. We need a convention on education but it must be much bolder and more imaginative than anything we have heard the Government propose so far. We are here because of the enormous frustration of parents. There is also great discomfort on the part of many teachers, as reflected in the INTO survey published this week. The reality is that progress in education has always been painfully slow. I was looking back today and I believe it was in 2012 that the infamous section 37 of the Employment Equality Act was amended.”
“While much of the conversation has been about divesting Catholic schools, there is no doubt but that minority faiths wish to have a voice in this conversation. There has been a long-standing call for a citizens' assembly on education. My colleague Aodhán Ó Ríordáin spent many years calling on the previous Government to introduce a citizens' assembly on education. However, we now need a convention. I know the programme for Government refers to a convention on education but we need to see something very bold and imaginative. Some 30 years ago, Niamh Bhreathnach established the first convention on education. That was groundbreaking at the time and very significant reforms came out of it.”
“In the spirit of a true republic, there should be no denomination within any school and we should have community national schools, as we see in many other countries, where religious instruction takes place outside of school hours. However, under our system and the Constitution as it was set out, the logical conclusion is that choice should allow for denominational, multidenominational and non-denominational education. I think of the parents who have chosen to send their kids to the North Dublin Muslim National School in my constituency of Dublin Central. There is obviously also a whole raft of Catholic schools but there are also Jewish and Protestant schools out there. It is important that they have a voice and a say in this conversation.”
“Maidir leis an teanga Gaeilge, tá an t-ádh againn i mBaile Átha Cliath Láir go bhfuil dhá Ghaelcholáiste, Scoil Chaitríona agus Coláiste Mhuire, i mBaile Átha Cliath 7 agus Baile Átha Cliath 9 ach is amhlaidh go bhfuil an-éileamh ar Ghaelcholáistí nua a bhunú trasna na tíre, go háirithe i Baile Átha Cliath 6 agus 8 agus in áiteanna eile trasna na tíre. Tacaíonn Páirtí an Lucht Oibre leis an bhfeachtas chun níos mó Gaelcholáistí a bhunú in áiteanna eile sa tír because there is now great demand for education trí theanga na Gaeilge. Frankly, that demand is not being met across the country. When talking about choice with regard to denomination, I am very clear that this motion calls for multidenominational education and to effectively take denomination out of the school system. That is a position I wholeheartedly support.”
“There are children across this country who should be in reading schools, who are in the first percentile and who are eligible for such schools but who are being told by the Department of Education that they need to remain within mainstream schools. A number of parents have come to me to say they believe their child would thrive in a special reading school but is being denied that choice. My colleague, Deputy George Lawlor, spoke last week about how there is only one special school in the whole of Wexford. The area of additional needs is very complex. That is why there is an issue in trying to match children to places. However, there is far too little choice with regard to additional needs and ensuring those needs are met.”
“The numbers coming in are growing and the ETB and Educate Together are in an effective partnership to grow the school. There has been some progress but it is critical to understand and acknowledge that there is great frustration in many parts of this city of Dublin and right across the country. When talking about choice in the context of education, we have typically associated it with the call for divestment and more multidenominational education but it is important to say we should also consider choice in the context of co-educational education, an teanga Gaeilge in the context of bunú Gaelscoileanna agus Gaelcholáistí, and children with additional needs.”