Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

As I said, there are huge personal consequences but there are also significant national consequences of this. People will not get the chances they would have received and there will be more early school leavers. That will put a huge cost burden on society into the future.

I ask the Minister to do what some of his colleagues have already done. In fairness to the Minister for Education and Skills, he admitted that his lack of experience, although he was a Minister previously, had led him to make mistakes. Tonight, I urge him to consider which is more important, that we can say we did not cut the BTR or that we do the right thing by the children. If he returns and says, "I made a genuine mistake here; I did not realise the consequences and I am now amending this decision", we will recognise that and compliment him on doing so. If he does not, we will continue to assert that this is the wrong decision.

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