Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have long argued for the importance of the arts in secondary schools and at all levels of education. That is a huge issue. When the leaving certificate examination in music changed in 1999 music technology was introduced. Music was one of the first subjects in which we could use technology for the leaving certificate. Basically, it must be said that the music technology on the leaving certificate curriculum at present is just copy and paste. It has no bearing on music at all. I studied it in conjunction with what is happening in the North. There are nine miles between Dundalk and Newry but there is a difference in the music education there. It allows pupils the scope to do exactly what we want to do with education, which is to give them the opportunity to be able to develop their minds and produce what they want, rather than the regurgitated rote learning here. That is an area where we are talking about digital learning, promoting Schubert's lieder and so forth, which is brilliant. However, let us bring that back down even into second level schooling and do it there. There is huge scope. The students are actually far more capable of doing it than adults are, and some of the music based digital programmes that are available are fantastic.