Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I will finish with a comment. So much success has been achieved with participation in primary and the junior certificate cycle. From what the witnesses have told me, there is remarkably good participation in early childhood education, albeit with a deficit of 24%. Obviously, there are a lot of issues within that 24%. However, it is brilliant that so much has been achieved. Everyone concerned should be congratulated and should take a bow. On days like this, we tend to focus on the negative, but there has been a remarkable level of achievement compared to years ago. The big target now is to get children to progress to transition year and the leaving certificate.