Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

——and put pressure on the Minister and Opposition Finance and Education spokespersons to commit to funding education in a serious way, to move well beyond the figure of €1 billion in additional investment outlined by the Green Party and to make thinking about education part of the everyday vocabulary, until such time as voters and the political establishment see it as second nature. Until we act in this visionary and collective manner, we will continue to short-change existing and future generations. We will continue to place higher costs on the nation than we need to, particularly hard-pressed taxpayers in the middle income brackets. We will continue to favour the privileged over those who most need our help.

I welcome many of the measures in the budget but I also regret that it did not live up to its potential. I am an optimist, however, and there is always next year. I will be watching the Minister closely and sincerely hope the deficits in an otherwise good budget will be addressed in 12 months' time. All parties failed to show the necessary commitment to education. They failed to outline the costings and from where the money would come. We need that type of vision now. Politics and petty arguments must be put aside and a Tallaght strategy put in place for all to work together for the future.

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