Mr. Alfie Barrett:

With regard to the devolving of grants, at times schools find they can get better value and achieve more at local level than if something is handled centrally. The school principals might comment on that.

We can agree that there are many issues and problems, and the challenge is to arrive at decisions that can address them. Senator Power spoke about the small steps that can be taken versus larger steps. That is the real challenge for us - what reforms we can get into place now in the absence of resources. A question was asked about post holders and their appointments. We have essentially reached agreement or are close to agreement on that for all schools for the future. Out of 100 marks, length of service will be 20 marks and the rest will be for items such as knowledge, understanding, capacity to do the job and capacity to contribute to the overall organisation and management of the school. Therefore, 80 marks out of 100 will be for that. These are the reforms we can achieve that do not cost in the absence of resources. While we do not disagree on many of the issues, the challenge for us is to take what steps we can at present to help in the areas where we have identified issues that must be addressed.