Dáil debates
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Cabinet Committees.
2:30 pm
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Can the Taoiseach clarify whether the Cabinet committee on social inclusion, children and integration has replaced what I had understood to be the Cabinet committee on social inclusion and drugs? When did such a change take place if that is the case? If it is the case, is there a separate Cabinet committee that now has responsibility for addressing the issue of drugs? Has the frequency of meetings of the Cabinet committees increased over the past six, ten or 12 months as full Cabinet meetings have clearly increased in response to the ever-deepening economic crisis we face? In the context of what I can only regard as the very savage cutbacks in education, which are especially hitting children of what might be described as our new communities and making integration and social inclusion even more difficult, have the issues of the capping of the numbers of language support teachers at two, the increase in class sizes, the cutting of special needs supports and the cutting of book grants been addressed at the Cabinet committee on social inclusion, children and integration, given that they have a particular impact on the children of new community families within our wider community?
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