Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The amendment directly refers to the motion tabled by the Opposition parties and affords me the opportunity to discuss the Government's record on investing in education. In moving this amendment, I may share my time with Deputy Peter Power.

The budget for my Department has more than doubled in recent years to just under €8 billion in 2006. This Government has also provided for the largest increase in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education and has put an unprecedented level of investment into school buildings. These are actions of which the Government is proud.

There are approximately 4,000 schools in the country and before this Government came into office, expenditure was completely inadequate, forward planning was virtually non-existent and——

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