Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I accept what the Minister has said but there are other ways of re-entering negotiations with the religious orders, which are the owners of the educational property, to see if they can transfer the legal ownership of that property, maintain the schools as ongoing places of education and maintain the nature of their patronage so they will not, as their numbers decline, be tempted, as has happened in the past, to unilaterally decide to sell off those schools. I have raised this matter previously with the Minister. I accept the present deal is a bad one and was not the best available. However, there are other avenues that should be explored.

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