Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

Every time I walk into this Chamber, I pass a statue of Thomas Davis, a fellow Mallow man famous for the quote, "educate that you may be free". The Government, by its actions in recent weeks, has sought to curb these freedoms. When Davis spoke of freedom, he may have spoken in the context of political liberation but he also spoke in the context of the freedom of ideas, thought and consciousness.

If we are to educate our children in this nation in the context that Davis spoke about we must give them all the tools we can. The Government, by its actions last week, sought to limit those freedoms and limit the giving of those tools to those children and it should be ashamed of its actions.

When I look across the benches of this House I see certain Members of the Green Party playing the Tadhg an dá thaobh and running with the hare and hunting with the hound. I say to them that if they are true to their political conscience and creed they will vote with the Labour Party on this motion and vote for the children of the nation and for the proper education policy that we wish to see in this land.

In speaking to this motion I speak for the schools in my constituency. I speak for the children of Ballyhooley national school and the people in Carrigtwohill, Fermoy, the Mercy national school in Cobh, Midleton College and Gaelscoil Mhainistir na Corann. These are among many who made representations to me about the swingeing cutbacks that will be implemented and the adverse effects they will have on the day to day operations of their schools.

It must be admitted that great strides have been made in many aspects of education during the past ten years, although not at a pace we would wish to see. However, it is wrong for any Government to roll back those achievements in one fell swoop and send us headlong back to where we were in the 1980s. This is not the mark of a nation making progress. I urge the Government to think hard about its actions.

If we are going to flourish as a nation we must look to future generations. The way we can flourish, socially and economically, is by ensuring every child bar none has the best chance in life he or she can have and having an education system that is world class. Anything else is not what we want.

This motion is reasonable. It speaks to the genuine fears the people have about the way they see the education system going. The people beyond these walls, the people of this land, who have shouted loudly, and thank God for their voices, do not want to see their children treated this way nor should the Legislature treat their children this way. We want to give them a fair chance and a fair opportunity. This is what we seek through this motion.

On Friday, as I walked down the main street of Mallow I was approached by transition year students from St. Mary's secondary school. They flocked around me to tell me they will not be able to carry out many of the projects and aspirations they have for their transition year because of the cuts. They asked me to let their voices be heard in Dáil Éireann when next I spoke on the subject. I speak for those girls and for the aspirations they have. I speak for the aspirations I had when I was their age and for the educational opportunities I had which were limited because of the times I grew up in during the 1980s. Do not send the education system back to the 1980s. Let us think forward and consider the investment that can be made now and the payoffs in the long run as a result.

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