Mr. Michael Parsons:

I did. Take simple things such as competitions. We send heritage gurus, if one likes, to primary schools to talk about wildlife or this, that or the other. Whatever the school wants, we have a whole range of people - perhaps 160 - who will come in and counsel a primary school. We are doing nothing in second level schools at the moment. At 15 or 16 years of age, students probably do not want to know about anything. Perhaps in transition year we would get their attention, but the leaving certificate and so on is such a pressure. Before the pace speeds up we should reach into the first and second year students, who are so enthusiastic. That is what we did in Laois-Offaly with our programme. We get the most amazing things. I remember a model of the Main Street in Tullamore in 1785 with a balloon floating above it. At the time, the balloon was one of the first balloons launched. It came down and burned the whole Main Street of Tullamore, which is why Tullamore has a lovely wide Main Street now. It was thanks to the burning of Tullamore by this balloon that came down. A class of young students had constructed a model of the 18th century street and the balloon hovering above it. That was not in any curriculum but it was a great way for these young students from Tullamore to feel a sense of identity with their own place.