Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

The motion before the House is timely and the energy it has generated on the Government's side indicates this. This country has reached a positive stage at which people ask what one knows rather than who one knows. The issue of who one knows emerged from a time in which one had to be connected to get a job but that is no longer the case. It is now a question of what one knows and that is a good point to be at in terms of how young people are perceived in Ireland and abroad.

What people know depends on the education they receive and, in an holistic sense, the type of person an individual becomes depends, to a large extent, on the type of primary education he or she receives. Primary school is the university we all attend. We may examine drop out figures relating to those who do not attend secondary school, those who do not sit the junior certificate, those who do not sit the leaving certificate and those who do not make it to third level and beyond but everyone attends primary school. The seeds are sown at primary school and one's ability to progress in life will depend a great deal on one's experience there.

I have listened to the contributions from the Government's side for the past two nights. One Deputy said that not all schools need this money, and that is true, but the overwhelming majority of schools do need it. The speakers on the other side of the House have suggested that money is available through Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, and other areas but I can only speak for Cork. I was asked to sponsor sports gear and I did, because the school had no other way of getting it, despite the fact that PE is part of the curriculum. I was asked to sponsor a team in a golf classic because the school had no other way to raise money. I have been involved in cake sales — thankfully I was not asked to bake, but I was asked to purchase, which I did. There have been club nights and pub quizzes. These events are not held to keep mothers busy because they have nothing else to do.

Being a member of a parents' committee in a school means being involved in a fund-raising committee. Fund-raising is not carried out for extra ballet classes or additional presents at Christmas; it is about paying for heating, roof repairs, replacement windows and equipment. Teachers in infants classes buy presents from their own money to help young children learn. Children as young as five inform us of colours days, when they need not wear their uniforms but can wear their own clothes to school. For the privilege of doing this they must each bring €2 to school. One would give them that amount to go to the shop any day of the week. That €2 from every child in the school on that day, which is once a month, is the difference between whether that school functions properly for the rest of the year.

I will come back to what one knows as opposed to who one knows. What one knows depends on the grounding one gets at primary level. Some of the schools I know are not making the cut. No matter how hard they try they have not the finances necessary to provide the education that will allow those children when asked what they know, to stand up and say with confidence that they know as much as the other person. That is the difficulty.

I want to read something, after which I will sit down, because my colleague has far more important things to say than I do. A particular teacher who was in the Visitors' Gallery last night from a Dublin constituency e-mailed my party colleague today as follows:

I find it very upsetting that the Minister included the ancillary service grant in her reply, as if the salary, paltry that it is, of the secretary and caretaker can be used to pay the heating bills. It cannot. Also, she went on at some length about the extra funding that schools like ours are getting under DEIS. [I think the Minister should answer this in her reply]. However, this money is very clearly ring-fenced for us to reach our targets under the DEIS plan for literacy, numeracy, and must not be used for day to day spending. It is the type of spin that tells us that these moneys can be used and the type of spin that has frustrated and annoyed both parents and teachers.

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