Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I know we do not have that and that we have a long way to go before we get there. There have been many new schools in recent years but when one has parental choice as the centre of one's education provision at primary level, parents use that to confer advantage on their child, understandably so. What happens then is that one gets segregation on the basis of class, race and so on. We have schools in Lucan where almost 90% of students are non-Irish. Many of them will get citizenship as time goes on. Segregation definitely exists and it is not through the choosing of the parents or children concerned. It is because they are being left out and must then be catered for by emergency schools. Very often, it is the faith schools that have the best record in terms of integration of different nationalities. That is another issue with which I would be very familiar from my community, as would others. Parental choice can lead to separation and a more unequal system.

I accept the point made by Senator O'Donnell and Ms Flynn. I agree that small schools and smaller classes are better and I see that there is an issue around preserving rural communities. On the other hand, we must go back to the notion that schools are for the community. They are not just for parents and children; they are for the community as well. My father used to say that a school is of as much interest to the man on the No. 26A bus who has no children in school as it is to the parents of children. Schools are about the community as well. Could the delegation go back over the questions that were asked and make their concluding remarks? I will start in reverse with Mr. Loftus. Civil servants are not allowed to be politically aligned and nor are they.