Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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This is different from what we did on the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. Some of the questions will be similar. I welcome the Minister to the committee and look forward to working with him in the coming months and years. There is no doubt he has a difficult job and there are huge challenges within the education portfolio to overcome. I will be as constructive as possible but will also be critical when the need arises. It is not only my job to offer alternatives but also to keep the Minister to account.

I understand the €77 million saving will be outside the multi-annual announcements made last year in respect of capitation grants and reductions to language support teachers. The challenge facing the Department in trying to find the €77 million is evident. In regard to capitation grants, has the Department carried out an assessment of the impact the announcement had last year? Some schools, including those attended by my children, are being asked to take with them basic items such as toilet rolls because schools no longer provide basic toiletries. That gives a sense of the pressure under which some schools operate. As there will be a further reduction in the capitation grants next year, this will start to affect front-line services.

Front-line services will be affected by the ongoing cuts to services. The financial cost of sending children to school is increasing. A review of the book lending scheme took place and a voluntary code of practice was put in place. This is not the meeting at which to discuss the issue but I would like to hear the Minister's views on how the voluntary code of practice is working, the buy-in and the tangible benefits arising.

In January, the Minister asked his officials to examine the whole area of fee-paying schools. Will he give the committee an update on its report and the outcome?

Deputy McConalogue raised the issue of the post primary school transport scheme. The way in which the scheme was implemented this year was a disaster. Parents made decisions in November 2011 on the schools their children would attend, yet five months later they received notification stating they would not qualify due to changes in the scheme. I am aware of a couple whose two children attend the same post primary school, one qualified because of being in the scheme already while the second child did not qualify. One had the option of availing of the school transport scheme while the other child has to be driven to school. Such situations on the ground create problems.

In regard to the €77 million saving, has the Minister identified areas, red-line issues, that he will not touch because of previous announcements in respect of cuts in that area or in terms of the multi-annual cut in funding? It would be easier to identify the areas not being considered than the areas being considered. Will the Minister indicate the areas that will have to be examined this year which would not impact on the most disadvantaged?