Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

The Minister was on dangerous ground when he claimed that I am somewhat wet behind the ears when it comes to framing Estimates. Did he not use the estimates of a golfing buddy from County Cork, who is an economist, to arrive at some amount of money we were going to glean from third level education? He is on dangerous ground when he makes allegations of this nature in the House. He has been caught out a few times. That is why he will not have a face-to-face debate with Deputy Quinn or me on this matter. He read out a speech — rather badly, at times — while expecting us to believe he has any credibility in this regard.

Funding is an issue in primary and secondary education. We all know that. We do not spend enough. The big problem is that the funds are spread too evenly across the entire schools sector. We have been getting education on the cheap, in effect, for far too long. The Minister's fundamental task is to protect the education budget and stop these vicious assaults on our young people. He has failed at the first hurdle.

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