Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I was pleased to hear the Minister and the Minister of State say earlier that they will try to maintain funding to the education sector to the best of their ability. We have made great progress in the past decade in many aspects of education, including the secondary school DEIS programme, special needs assistants at all levels, second chance education and the area of crèches and the naíonraí. In many cases where we had naíonraí and playschools, they were set up by voluntary groups and occasionally a limited company gave guarantees. They were often set up by one person using his or her own intuition, who worked very hard at it. While crèches and child-care facilities got funding in recent times under the different programmes, they still need to be supported. I welcome the subvention that is available this year. They need to be supported and we need children to get in there. As other speakers have said, children who have had pre-school education are more capable and ready to go into primary school. While we have made progress in many areas we need to continue the investment. We will be watching the Minister to ensure he treats all sectors fairly.

For job creation and economic recovery, it is vital to have people upskilled and reskilled so that they will be ready and able to take up the challenges to get us out of the situation in which we find ourselves at present. I would caution two areas. First is the so-called value for money audit on smaller schools, including two-classroom schools. These form the bedrock of society in many areas. So many times in the past it has been proved that big is not greater than everything else and there is an important close-knit relationship with the community in those areas. I ask the Government to be very careful in that regard and not to do anything rash.

The VEC sector was threatened with reorganisation by the previous Minister. The VECs have served our country very well and in the fullness of time will stand up to any scrutiny. In many areas of education and especially in adult education the VEC sector was the only sector delivering adult education programmes before it was fashionable or even desired. As a member of a VEC and chair of its adult education board for many years, I saw at first hand the valuable work and the many voluntary tutors that were there. There was a plethora of education offerings and VECs are willing to expand into national schools and other areas including linking to third level. I would not like to see the axe wielded there too willingly and I would appeal to the Minister to be prudent.

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