Ms Roisin Marshall:

The Department of Education has a duty to encourage and facilitate and it is to be assisted by the Education Authority. There is a vital word missing in that provision which is "promote". It is handed over to us. If someone thinks just over £500,000 and a few members of staff will suddenly change hundreds of years of culture and traditional choices, he or she needs to think again about resources. That is why we have the integrated education fund to raise funds to kick-start integrated development in certain areas. It is not good enough in a lot of ways.

Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked about other projects. In the past ten years shared education has developed. We are talking about collaboration between schools and the promotion of peace and reconciliation between them and the children and adults within school communities. That is good and it has developed at a very rapid pace. It is the first cross-party supported peace and reconciliation project for a very long time, but it will never replace integrated education. Integrated schools are a school type. It is important to understand integrated education and its development within a shared education context will I hope be easier in the future. Schools are building relationships. When I was growing up in a small town in Country Down, we used to peer over the wall on a Sunday evening at the Protestant school. That coming and going between schools did not happen at the time. It is happening now in Northern Ireland, which is to be commended, but our model of all-day, every-day learning, playing and working together is surely the way for our society to learn to live together, as opposed to within the separate silos. That is helping.

Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan also mentioned diversity more broadly in schools. We are the council for integrated education, not diversity within education. Every single school in Northern Ireland has a responsibility to be diverse and ensure the inclusion of all children, irrespective of ability, disability, family background, community, race or culture. We are specifically in place to promote peace and reconciliation through integrated eduation. Ours is the largest, most sustainable and cost-effective community relations project in Northern Ireland. For very little money, we are changing hearts and minds at a rapid pace. We have a very specific mission - to ensure the two main communities, plus everyone else, are educated together. The possibility of children being educated together is what we stand for collectively.