Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

That is not to decry any particular civil servant in it, but it has a propensity for planning and tripping a Minister and meanwhile getting its chosen deep-seated and deep rooted point of view across. An unwitting Minister may and could stumble on many occasions. Anyway, the Minister is welcome there and I have no doubt that she will make her mark, as have the other women who have occupied that position.

I want to make my first point, which is on the new model of running a primary school. When all of this came out, which was as far as I remember in February 2007, it was born out of a frantic realisation about the numbers and wondering where would we put all the children that were appearing, how would they be governed and what was the board of management ethos. At the time, I read all about it because I have retained a huge interest in education. Immediately, my suspicious mind jumped to wondering why the churches had such a huge interest in pushing it through. I found it quite amazing. Deputy Quinn has given many learned speeches and observations on the need for the church to remove itself from the running of primary schools.

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