Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I accept the Taoiseach has dealt with this issue comprehensively, giving examples of the education side of integration policy. Will he agree there is a strong need for education for those immigrants from different faiths and ethnic backgrounds beyond school-going age?

In Cork city there is a large demand for English language teaching. Several voluntary organisations provide it but are just scraping funds together to do so. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, is working on the issue but I appeal to the Taoiseach to examine it in a proactive way. There is a large appetite for such education. Immigrants must be encouraged to learn to speak English so they can integrate in a more proactive way socially and in the workplace.

It is important for us to accommodate different faiths, cultures and languages within the education system. It is also important to reassure those religious organisations, be they Presentation Brothers or Christian Brothers or other religious orders, which have made a fantastic contribution to education. Within some schools, there are concerns that the potential exists to undermine a religious ethos in education which they have built up over a prolonged period. It is important to ensure parents have an opportunity to choose to send their children to a school with a certain background and religious ethos.

As the Taoiseach said, this is Ireland. We need to invest in accommodating difference and diversity as the modern Ireland continues to change. We also need to reassure those who have built up a positive religious ethos in schools that it will continue to be supported by the Government.

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