Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

It was with utter shock that I learned yesterday of the news of two adults chasing each other around a primary school in Ennis with a machete. It is appalling to think that young primary school children should witness such horror in the main town of County Clare. I commend the Garda Síochána on making arrests almost immediately. This type of appalling behaviour should not be allowed in any town in any country, particularly in this country. I hope justice will prevail rapidly and urgently.

On the theme of education, I call for a debate on the overall curriculum at second level. For a long time, I have believed that we should move away from the pressure-cooker points based system that engulfs the lives of young people for their final two years of secondary education and move towards a system of continuous assessment where the potential of young people, not just academically but in the arts, music and other areas, can be explored and developed. We should be looking at a holistic approach to education instead of the thwarted approach that currently exists. The current approach is focused on the academic side of education and is based on six or seven core academic subjects as opposed to an overall sporting, artistic, musical and creative educational experience. Education should be about giving young people the skills to go through life meaningfully and productively and not simply to gain a few points to do an academic course at third level which they are unequipped to do.