Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I started life in the inner city and attended school with the nuns in Clarendon Street, then went to Synge Street, at a time Gay Byrne describes as "brutal". Children were beaten at that time but I do not have bad memories of my schooldays. I then attended Drimnagh Castle and had no bad times there. In a debate such as this one reflects on those days and how problems were dealt with then. We live in more enlightened times and the Minister has presided over that improvement.

I am a former member of the Deansrath Community College board. Unfortunately, the school received bad publicity during the week when a teacher was assaulted, which is regrettable. There was also a serious incident in St. MacDara's school in Templeogue. I received an anonymous letter yesterday from a woman in my constituency, expressing serious upset at that incident and concern about the atmosphere there and the difficulties it creates for her two children. We must be sympathetic to her point of view. I am not picking on St. MacDara's, which is a first class school, with which I was involved as a member of the VEC. Nevertheless, it had a problem last week.

Many of these schools have up to 1,000 pupils. I visited my local primary school recently and noted that the teacher was starting the day at 9 a.m. People in every profession say their work is demanding but although it is a long time since I was in school I recognise the demands on teachers. There are two sides to the coin which the Minister understands.

Deputy Finian McGrath said that this debate is not only concerned with the central issues, about which we know. When we debated the Prisons Bill earlier this week I said that it is better to spend money on education, at every level, than to have to visit young people, from my constituency and others, in places of detention. It is easy to say that these issues could be dealt with at school but we must do all we can, particularly in disadvantaged communities, to ensure that young people get the best start.

The Minister agrees with this principle and has visited Tallaght on several occasions where she has seen the efforts made by the staff and community in the national schools in Killinarden and Jobstown to look after young people who might be at risk. She has also visited the ACE project which helps young people complete their education and go to university, as they should. Resources should be made available for all these programmes.

There are always demands and various unions knocking on our doors with different points to make. The former Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, came last autumn to see the Early Start programme in St. Thomas's school in Jobstown which is under significant pressure. We should do all we can to help it.

The Minister initiated the Tallaght West Childhood Development Initiative, which she visited when Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach will visit Tallaght on Friday week with the Minister of State with special responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, to launch this initiative formally. This concerns helping the community in Tallaght and elsewhere; there are similar projects in Ballymun and in the Northside Partnership.

The prevention and early intervention programme which the Department of Health and Children has initiated examines innovative methods for improving outcomes for children in an integrated way. In a reply to a recent parliamentary question the Minister of State with special responsibility for children said:

The intention is to ensure that local services connect effectively with one another, making them more focused on the multiple needs of children and families. The strategy will also provide for some new services and the re-orientation of existing services in the identified area to meet the specific needs of the community.

Apart from the impact on my community in Tallaght this project will be useful elsewhere in the region and, in time, around the country. It is important to support these programmes which create the right attitude to education in children.

I often tell young people that had I finished my education, I might now have a decent job. That is not intended to be as funny as it sounds.

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