Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Does the Tánaiste agree that the greatest failure of all is that we will not be able to compete for new jobs in the new economy considering that the people who scored highest in the international assessment of literacy and other educational attainments are from China and the Far East, and that we in Ireland are falling behind very significantly? What is the Tánaiste doing about it? Will she introduce a plan before the dissolution of this Dáil to address this very serious issue?

In regard to legislation on the student support grant coming before the House next Thursday, in respect of which legislation we in the Opposition benches will be assisting, will the Tánaiste clarify whether existing students who have the highest grants on the grounds that they live farthest from their educational institutions will lose those grants if they live within the new-----

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