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

——the local school is a good example of what happens in many others. There are 1,100 pupils in St. Mark's, a school that was founded in 1973 and opened on the day Erskine Childers died in 1974. It is unique because almost 500 pupils come from 48 countries. I have heard Deputy Burton and others talk about the particular demands in certain areas. This is the type of school that should be receiving special attention because it faces even more challenges than many other schools. It has been helped by the appointment of special language teachers — six in our case — and has received other funds but it needs more for IT. It is the type of school — I will bring Deputy Lynch there some day if she would like to visit it — that should receive even more attention and assistance. What happens there can happen in the rest of the country.

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