Mr. Eamon Stack:

I can respond in respect of the NCSE working group. One very useful document is the guide for parents and guardians on the new model.

It compares, in a few pages, the new model with the old model. It explains the current system and why it is unfair. In addition to having a comprehensive report, we wanted it to be understood by people as best as possible. The book helps that but the next step in helping to understand it is the pilot scheme because we will have evidence from 47 schools that can speak publicly about it when it is done.

What will emerge from the pilot is more information relevant to the success of the new model when it is introduced. When I made reference to the pilot being resource-free, I was thinking about all the meetings of the working group that I chaired. I only needed to repeat it once or twice - at no stage did we make a decision based on resources and neither did our terms of reference, which was only one paragraph. We know that in future there will be a resources issues but addressing it was not part of our terms of reference so we did not address it. We might have left a challenge for the next Minister of Education and Skills and the Department in the implementation aspect. Perhaps it will not be a challenge but no predetermined line has been drawn about resources. The present system is not fair for a number of reasons and the only claim we made for this was that it was a better and more equitable way to proceed. There is nothing equitable about cutting money and that is not what it was about. That is why I spoke about it being resource-free. The challenge we examined was whether it was more equitable to do it this way or the present way. The dominant question, before one looks for the cheque book, is if it is more equitable. More is not always better.