Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's attendance to discuss the budget with plenty of advance notice.

I will touch on a few of the issues and perhaps the Minister can give me some response. I understand he is under pressure of time.

I raised the potential for a national book lending scheme, particularly at primary level, with the Minister previously. He made a valid point about the way second level is going, with technology like tablets and digitisation. Such a scheme could have a major impact on the cost savings for parents. Where is the Department on that and what is its potential cost?

Is there an education audit right across the system? Often campaigns or issues within the education system are politically convenient but when one strips them down to look at their educational value, sometimes a case can be made for one or another. Does that happen in terms of issues such as modern languages or class size? Where a lobby group is making a strong case, what systems or mechanisms are there within the Department to state what international research shows?

Returning to the ability of principals to manage their schools, about which Deputy O'Brien spoke, the compartmentalisation of grants to schools and the autonomy of a principal to make a decision on how to run his or her school the way he or she wants in tandem with the board of management, one may get a block grant for IT which one may not need and would much rather spend on day-to-day items such as toiletries. The Minister might comment on moving towards a system where the principal would have the autonomy to make those decisions.

I will return to the Minister on the special needs issue. I still have major concerns about GAM and that funding is not targeted at the most disadvantaged, but this is probably not the proper forum in which to raise that issue.

Senator Healy Eames touched on the reform packages. In terms of the literacy initiatives, the forum on patronage and pluralism and all of the reforms that the Department is thankfully carrying out, it is quite an exciting time to be involved in education. Is the added cost of doing all of this a major budgetary item? Does it have a major impact on the spend of the Department? When the Minister rolls out a new scheme or initiative, he takes on a vested interest or he takes on a body of work that has been left untouched for a period of time and there is a cost involved. Is it a major or minor cost? Is it something that we need to focus on?