Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Labour is not trying to score political points, nor are we trying to bring down the Government in this motion. We simply want to change that element of the budget that affects education.

We share the views expressed by the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Education and Science, Deputy Paul Gogarty of the Green Party, who said recently, and which might have been in the letter received by the Minister in Beijing or Shanghai:

I do not have to repeat what I have said about education being a building block for future prosperity and social cohesion and the collective failure of the body politic — Government and Opposition — to give real commitments to education so that we may reap the real rewards, albeit in some cases beyond the narrow five year electoral cycle. Funding education pays back in so many ways. And making cuts in the wrong place can cause irreparable damage.

If ever cuts were made in the wrong place, these are them and yes, they will cause irreparable damage. The Labour Party and, I believe, the Opposition and Government backbenchers, many of whom have expertise and experience in primary education, are working together to try to secure our future and defend our children. Ireland is still a rich country but it is in economic difficulties. Together we can overcome these difficulties by creative thinking, hard work and inspired political leadership. We have done so previously. I ask the Government not to use our children's future to copperfasten its deeply flawed budget. It is time for Ministers and Deputies in Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to go back to the drawing board.

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