Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Does the Minister really expect the parents of the most vulnerable children in the country to accept that answer, given that both the Labour Party and Fine Gael were extremely vociferous in demanding full implementation of this legislation just one year ago? Does he really expect them to accept that money cannot be found when the value of the most recent bond paid for Anglo Irish Bank far exceeded the €230 million he says is necessary to implement the legislation? We can find the money to pay off the bondholders of a zombie bank such as Anglo Irish Bank, but we are unable to find the money to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in the country. In the discussions with the EU-IMF delegation do we tell them we have no chance of economic recovery if implementation of the Government's austerity programme means substantial and consequential long-term adverse effects in terms of the quality of education provided for young people who are the key to our economic recovery? Is it not asking us to apply cannibal logic to our society and children? How can we accept this?

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