Brendan Smith: Urges Dept of Education to Review Jonathan's Submission
Brendan Smith welcomes Jonathan and his parents to the Oireachtas committee, praises Jonathan's evidence-based submission and proposes sending the submission and transcript to the Department of Education and its inspectorate for consideration. He also asks the Department to respond to the February 2026 ESRI publication cited by Jonathan.
Praise for the submission
Brendan Smith commends Jonathan for the clarity of his presentation and the rigorous research behind it, including references to ESRI and University of Cambridge work. He highlights that Jonathan's proposals are evidence-based and notes the value of hearing a student voice in committee proceedings.
Request to the Department of Education
Smith suggests forwarding Jonathan's submission and the transcript to the Department of Education, particularly the inspectorate, and requests a formal response if the Department has not already replied to the February 2026 ESRI publication Jonathan quoted. He frames this as a necessary step to ensure official consideration of the concerns raised.
Student representation and wellbeing
Smith reflects on the limited role student councils often play, describing how they can be largely focused on organising events rather than influencing daily school life. He also underlines the ongoing pressures around mental health and wellbeing affecting students, and stresses the importance of listening to student perspectives in policymaking.
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Thank you very much Cathaoirleach. Like you Cathaoirleach and the other members, I welcome Jonathan here today and his parents as well. You deserve, as Deputy Chaplain Clear said, great credit for putting together that presentation. You presented it with great clarity and you've outlined very clearly your particular views and the concerns that have given cause to this proposal. One thing Cathaoirleach, what we might do is we might send this Jonathan submission and maybe the transcript of today's proceedings to the Department of Education, particularly to their inspectorate and ask them to give us some consideration. We might also ask the department to give us a response, if they haven't already given one, to the February 2026 ESRI publication that Jonathan quotes. Again, you've not just put forward your own views but you've done great research, taken findings from the ESRI and also from the University of Cambridge work in this area as well. So as has been said earlier, your proposals are very evidence-based. You mentioned that, by and large, there's a lack of a student representative voice. I know when we visit schools, we generally meet a student council of that. Now, I'm sure it varies from school to school what input each student council has. To your own knowledge, not just with regard to your own school but to other schools where you have friends attending, to your knowledge, do the student councils have a good input into dealing with these day-to-day issues as they affect students, would you think, Jonathan? Our student council in my school is mainly just for organising events for charity. Recently, we had a walk for water. We had to walk our age. In my second year, I think it was something like 240 14-year-olds, so we had to walk two miles. The only thing the student council really organise is events like that. They wouldn't have input on how the school is running or how issues are affecting the students. It's more like a figurehead body. Presumably, that's much the same throughout the whole country, probably. When we do meet them, they're after organising, maybe being active in the green flag issue or the Irish flag issue or promoting some particular school events like that. I think we are well aware of the pressures today in regard to mental health, mental wellbeing. Teachers who speak to us about their daily work would also refer to the pressures that they are conscious that are on their students as well. I think you've done a very good public service, Jonathan, particularly at your age, to come here before an Oireachtas committee and to outline those proposals with such clarity. It's a great credit to you and I compliment you on the background work you did in preparing this submission. Again, backing it up with evidence and particularly using publications that are very, very credible. Any publication of the SRA is always very credible, as would the work from the University of Cambridge. Again, I think we should ask the department for their views on what is a very important issue. Thank you.
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