Ms Eileen Flynn:

Is it eight pupils, 17 pupils, 50 or 85 pupils? Currently they are all variables in the system, depending on what report one reads.

Second, I would like people to appreciate what they have. They have local democracy in action and management for free. Third, I would like people to acknowledge that statistics and money are the crudest things one can use to measure what we are talking about in childhood education. The PTR does not reveal the human story. Fourth, I would like joined-up thinking. What does it cost to keep a child at school currently? I suggest it is less than €1 per day, per annum. Where can one get better value than that? If a child drops out of that system for the want of support or resourcing or special needs being addressed and becomes a burden on the State, what is the cost of keeping that person supported in an alternative setting? I suggest it is approximately €70,000 per annum.

Finland was mentioned by one of our colleagues. So far as I understand, the Finns prioritised their education system over multi-annual budgets and said they were not to be touched because they saw that the children in schools at that time were the adults of the future to recover from where Finland found itself. Perhaps we could learn from that.

There are three other issues. We are working on an amalgamation document and we have a discussion paper ready for patrons because we do not represent them here. Essentially, the discussion paper is a patrons' issue but we are prepared to share it with anybody who wishes to see it. We are also working on a document on inclusion, which we have provided to the patrons, in order that schools can become inclusive. I agree with the Chairman that we cannot have a school at every crossroads but we can make what we are more inclusive of people who perceive they are not of that nature.

Finally, whatever else is done, do not change the PTR.