Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

The Minister, generally, showed prudence, responsibility and a firm hand but what the Government, collectively, did not show was a vision on the education front to transform society, ignore short-term political considerations and invest prudently for the future. I am embarrassed by this aspect of the budget, especially considering the work I put into outlining the case for educational investment in the past few years, although the Government is not alone in its lack of vision for education and commitment to substantially increase funding in the long term. As I pointed out in Dáil debates earlier this year, before the general election, the major Opposition parties had not taken education seriously either. They sniped but refused to commit to a long-term funding package——

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