Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has spoken on this matter a few times and is aware of it. She has also discussed it with the Deputy. She wants to work on it and to bring more communication, engagement and transparency to it in order that everyone is treated fairly. There will be opportunities to deal with this important issue in the charter and the upcoming Bill, and the Minister wants to stress that she is prepared to work with the Deputy on it.

Regarding the overall issue of funding for schools, most people will understand that budgets across the board have come through difficult times. As people return to work and more taxes are collected, I hope that we will have an opportunity to address the budgetary concerns in education. Given the demographics, just standing still has been a major task. This alone was an achievement in light of the mess the public finances were in. Those finances are improving bit by bit, giving us an opportunity to address these issues. The pressures on parents at all levels of education is well recognised by the Minister and me. We will try to address those as the country recovers.