Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

This is in dramatic contrast to the words we heard from that side of the House before the last general election. That was not ten years ago. It was only a few months ago — not even 12 months ago. What an amazing turn of events. In the times of full and plenty we were able to go forward with confidence and rely on the fact that the Government had lots of money to spend and intended to spend it in the education sector and other sectors. What did the Government do? One of the first traps it has fallen into is that in answering a simple parliamentary question, its Ministers resort to a history lesson. I know education is all about history and vice versa. However, it is unnecessary to give Members of the Oireachtas a history lesson every time a parliamentary question is asked. We get about two pages of a history lesson, and then at the end the Ministers say they are sorry but they had to prioritise and set certain targets and unfortunately this was not one of them.

One of the things we hear about regularly from boards of management and parents' groups is the amount of time and energy spent by them in fundraising in lieu of a proper capitation grant. They will readily say that if they had more time to spend on other issues within the school there would be a far better education system, and that an input of money at a critical point — such as the capitation grant — could enable a major change in terms of the amount of time spent on other education issues.

It is true that there has been a Celtic tiger roaming around the countryside for the past ten years or so. I notice on the far side of the House the Deputies refer to 1997 as though 1997 were the first year of the universe, the year that time began. What they fail to recognise is that the country's population, cost requirements and demands have risen dramatically, especially since 1997.

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