Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

When the Government took office, it was incumbent on it to introduce what had been long sought. I remember union congress after congress looking for an education Act. Such a step was necessary to underpin educational governance, to give rights to parents and ensure they were equal partners in education and to ensure students had rights. Without that legislative underpinning, it was pointless to do much. The building of the legislative structure, including the Education Act, the Education (Welfare) Act and the Education for Persons with Disabilities Act, has been critically important.

A measure for which many of us called when we were more active in our trade unions was the Teacher Council, to provide teachers with the same rights, recognition and esteem as other professionals. We could then move to the massive expenditure we have seen in education. I happened to pick up the answer to a parliamentary question I asked last week. Capitation funding for secondary schools, for example, in 1996——

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