I welcome the Deputy Leader. I am returning to an issue that I have raised before regarding the national planning framework and how it arrived at its population growth figures, and, more importantly, how those figures were distributed regionally and on a county-wide basis. Something I predicted is now happening live in County Wicklow, as in the first planning application for 98 houses has been refused solely on the grounds that it exceeds the population target for that area. The plan was only adopted in October of last year.

If this same policy is adopted throughout Wicklow, not alone will we have no development in Greystones, Delgany and Newcastle, but we will not have it in Newtown, Ashford, Rathdrum or Roundwood, because we have exceeded our population targets in all those areas. Even Wicklow town, if I did the figures on that, will equally be very close to exceeding its population targets. I identified this as a problem as far back as 2018 or 2019. If this is implemented in the middle of a housing crisis, it is madness in its simplest form. I have called before for a review of the national planning framework, specifically on population targets and growth, and how it is distributed. I am back again looking for that debate to happen because we just cannot allow this to happen. These are towns that have the infrastructure in place. They are not being refused on infrastructure. They are being refused on how a target was set, and they are exceeding that target, and on no other grounds. It cannot stand in the middle of a housing crisis.

I welcome the Deputy Leader. I have a couple of issues. I concur with the comments by Senator Black with regard to the INTO. I also met its representatives at their presentation in Buswells Hotel yesterday, and not to repeat it, but I would like to support their very genuine and realistic ask. They are asks that are needed for the education of our youth. One of the proposals was about reducing class sizes and that is something we had in our report yesterday with regard to the Joint Committee on Autism, and reducing the class sizes due to the larger number of children on the autism spectrum who are in mainstream classes. I concur and support it. I would also like to welcome one of the proposals regarding mental health supports in schools. I know the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley, announced what I think was €5 million in funding for seven counties, and I am delighted that my own home county of Longford is one that will be taking part in that trial to give counsel and supports in our schools.

Separately, I suppose I am around a long number of years more than I care to think about sometimes but I have never had as many phone calls on issues with regard to one examination as I did last weekend. That was the leaving certificate maths examination, and I assume everyone had the same number of phone calls. Something happened and something was wrong. I talked to parents whose kids left, walked out, and were not even able to write anything on the paper. I do not know what mechanism can be put in place or if anything can be done. These kids did not actually sit a junior certificate because of Covid-19, so to go and dramatically change a leaving certificate, which was their first State examination to do, was ill-thought, in my opinion. I do not know what can be done, or if anything can be done, but I would ask the State Examinations Commission, to which I have written, to take due cognisance of some of these issues that happened. If it is a case of some pupil who actually did not do anything in the examination, would they have an opportunity in July to repeat that examination? I ask that this be considered.