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Mr Pat Sheehan: Assembly records
All of Mr Pat Sheehan’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
Last Friday, 17 April, was Palestinian Prisoners' Day. There are nearly 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and among them are 350 children. Some 3,500 of those prisoners are on remand. A similar number are in prison as a result of what is called "administrative detention". We know that better here as…
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the amount spent by (i) his Department; and (ii) the Education Authority, on Special Educational Needs tribunals, since the restoration of the Executive in February 2024.
To ask the Minister of Education whether, in light of the recent IT incident, his Department has reassessed the timeframe of progressing the business case relating to the C2K system.
It is never a good sign when a Minister tosses an official under the bus. His name was at the bottom of that email, so it came from him. The argument that the Bill is premature ignores the reality that the workforce issues have existed for years and years. The DUP has held the Department of Education portfolio for…
Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. First of all, I thank everyone who participated in the debate. It was a very well-tempered debate. Those who opposed the legislation raised two main issues: first, the fact that a strategy is being developed in the Department and, secondly, that there is an equality issue…
First, thanks for giving way. Secondly, if you have been listening to the debate, you will have heard that there are unique challenges for the Irish-medium sector that do not exist in any other sector. That is part of the rationale behind the Bill: to bring the Irish-medium sector up to an equal footing with all other…
FlaggedIrish language, Ulster-Scots and language policyCriteria met: Identity framing, Cultural grievance politics, Dog-whistle messaging, Controversy escalation.
When I set out to bring the Bill forward, one of the things that I had to do was to write to the Minister and ask him what he was doing. The Minister wrote back and said that he was developing a strategy that, he hoped, would be ready by mid-2027, after the election next year. The timeline may fall; the Minister may…
Thanks for giving way. It is, effectively, two sides of the same coin. How many speech and language therapists dealing with children in the Irish-medium sector who have speech and learning difficulties are fluent in Irish? If that person can speak only English, that puts those children at a disadvantage.
I beg to move Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Some of my remarks will be in Irish during this contribution. Tá áthas orm an Dara Céim den Bhille um Oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge (Plean don Lucht Oibre) a mholadh. At the outset, I place on record my thanks to a number of people who have assisted me throughout…
Does the Minister accept that there is a qualitative difference between providing free car parking at hospitals and feeding children who are not getting food to sustain them?
I thank the Member for giving way. There has been some effort here today to create a disconnect between children's education and their being off school at Easter and Christmas and during the summer. I have two kids who are still at school. They come home at holiday time with packs to work through during the holidays.…
The question has been asked here today about whether this would be the best use of £20 million or £21 million — whatever it is. We have to balance whether it would be better spent on the curriculum or on reform. My answer to that is this: what is more important than spending money on children who are malnourished or…
You said it yourself: it is about priorities. Why do we send children to school? To learn. The evidence shows that, if children are hungry, they will not learn. What could be a greater priority than ensuring that, when children sit down in school, they are not hungry, they are fed and they are ready to learn? We can…