John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have visited the country on a number of occasions and I am aware of the complexities involved. I tend to agree with Deputy Crowe that, at the end of the day, it will be left to the people to decide whether Bosnia pushes forward, stays where it is or goes backwards. The education system is dramatically failing because of segregation on ethnic grounds. The country does not have a hope if that continues. Perhaps that could be a starting point. If the children in school now, who will inevitably vote and have a say in the political system, continue to be discriminated against on ethnic grounds, there will not be a hope for the state, as there would not be for any state. None of us is competent to give opinions on Bosnia's political and electoral systems, although I am well up on them because I have visited, but it will go nowhere with an education system that segregates on education grounds in this day and age. Somehow, that has to be dealt with. I have visited schools and all this will do is build up hatred for the entire political system. Groups are being galvanised and they do not now how others think politically and otherwise. Somebody has got to get a grip on the education system. I do not refer to how subjects are taught but to segregation on ethnic grounds. The country will not go anywhere because hostility is being bred year after year.