I preface my remarks by thanking the Minister for his kind words regarding an t-iar-Theachta Dála agus an t-iar-Sheanadóir Dermot Fitzpatrick.

The thoughts of those of us in Fianna Fáil and throughout the House will be with his family, in particular his daughter Senator Mary Fitzpatrick. I imagine in the Upper House there will be plenty of time to talk about the doc and pay tribute to him.

I spent this morning in Trinity Comprehensive School meeting children from Ukraine who travelled here and the children of Ballymun and the schools that have welcomed them. I cannot tell the Minister the impact it had on me. It was heartbreaking listening to the stories they recounted. Our communities have a lot on their plate at present but they want to welcome these people and they want to be generous. I ask the Government to make sure sufficient resources are in place, that teams are in place on a regional basis to support schools and that we look to see how the qualifications of Ukrainian teachers coming to Ireland may be accredited.

I should have acknowledged Senator Fitzpatrick also. I know she has been inspired by the service her late father gave.

We cannot but be moved when we spend time with those arriving to our country and fleeing their homes. We cannot but be moved by all they have gone through and be reminded of the commitments we will have to them in future. With regard to the particular point made by the Deputy on how we could support those who were teachers in Ukraine and bring them back to their vocation here in Ireland and help them, this is a matter the Department of Education is working on. The Teaching Council is making arrangements to look at how we can speedily register teachers from Ukraine to get them back into classrooms here in Ireland, fulfilling their vocation. The dedicated email address ukrainianteachers@teachingcouncil.ie has been set up. We encourage anybody who is interested in this to make use of the email address.