Mr. Paul Collins:

I will come in on the issue of opinion polls. The specific opinion poll referred to was conducted by LucidTalk, which is an independent polling body. It did the opinion poll last weekend or the weekend before for the Belfast Telegraph. In that survey we have quoted from there were 2,000 responses. For such a poll to be statistically accurate, it needs 1,080 responses. There was a 2.3% margin of error. According to that poll, about 73% of people support their local schools becoming integrated. Digging into that, there are some interesting statistics in respect of political parties. Of DUP supporters, 58% support integrated schools; of Sinn Féin supporters, 74%; of SDLP supporters, 77%; of UUP supporters, 78%; and of Alliance supporters, 94%. There has been survey after survey all indicating that the vast majority of people want their schools to become integrated. Probably the most important statistic I can cite is that in all the polls that have taken place in all schools over recent years for the Integrate my School campaign, funded by the IEF, the vast majority of people, that is, the parents whose children are in those schools, voted for their schools to become integrated. Those polls are run independently, and the range is from 71% through to 92%. Therefore, of all the people who are asked whether they want their schools to become integrated, the vast majority indicate that they do. In every opinion poll over recent years, people responding have responded that they want and support integrated education. Yet I come back to what we mentioned in our initial presentation: only 7% of schools in Northern Ireland are integrated. In fact, if all the schools that had voted to transform to become integrated were to become integrated, it would result in less than a 1% increase in the integrated school movement over the past year or two. The only way we can significantly move forward is through systemic change. Would it not be great to see a school set up and supported by the Government?