Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Let us be absolutely clear about this. The Government is committed to supporting education as was reflected quite clearly in the part of the budgetary process that has already been made public in which we clearly indicated our commitment to the education system through the provision of funding for additional schools to meet the needs of children for school extensions and for the capital programme in our educational system. The Government's continuing commitment to education will be reflected in the budget. It will be done within the constraints under which we must operate, but there can be no doubt about the Government's commitment to education and doing the very best for the education system and for our children and students given the difficult economic circumstances we have inherited.

See this speech in context