Clare Fianna Fáil TD, Cathal Crowe has been appointed as Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth.
The announcement was made on Thursday afternoon by Taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
Deputy Crowe said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as the Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth by An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin. As a member of the last Dáil, I served on this committee and really enjoyed getting my sleeves rolled up to work on a wide array of educational issues.
“Prior to my election to the Dáil, I worked for 14 years as a primary school teacher in Parteen National School and I also served in the role of Assistant Principal of the school and I will bring this experience to the role.
“I’m a graduate of Mary Immaculate College and the University of Limerick and I hope to be a strong voice for children in education and also for those who work in the sector, including principals, teachers, special needs assistants and secretaries,” he said.
“In recent years, the Government has put a major emphasis on inclusive education, specifically that children with additional needs can have those needs met in their local area, and ideally by their local school.
“Much work needs to be done in this area and hopefully our committee will examine how this area can be further enhanced over the next number of years. This committee also has the Youth dimension to it and at the beginning of this month I met with representatives of Clare Youth Service to talk about their hopes and aspirations for the Clare youth sector.
“Whilst my Chairing role will require impartiality, I hope to use the platform which I have now been given by the Taoiseach to raise the profile of quite a number of educational issues in my home county of Clare, and beyond,” Deputy Crowe concluded.