Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I propose to share time with Deputy Burton. This is one of the most important and timely motions. I thank my colleagues and party leader for tabling it. Unless one is in an ivory tower or travelling with blacked out windows, it is clear that a significant number of primary schools are facing a serious crisis. Many schools try to innovate with regard to the fund-raising ventures they must pursue to bridge the gap between what is received by way of capitation grant and what is required for the upkeep and maintenance of the school.

The Government should do us favour: it should spare us the platitudes, using the single transferable speech, and focus on what it has done, including the abandonment of the educational establishments in the State. The Government did away with the summer works scheme. I copped onto it and had to tell many teachers that it was gone. They did not realise it.

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