Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I realise funding is a major issue for the Minister. It is something on which he predicates his replies, both written and oral, to Members. However, the Government's decisions have been taken collectively and it has made the decision to proceed with these cuts in the education sector. I have a few questions that arise from the Minister's replies. Does he believe that these schools are too expensive to retain? Does he believe that various investments in capital infrastructure in these schools over the last number of years was wrong, ill-advised and a waste of money? Some of these schools have been hit with this cut in the pupil-teacher ratio, DEIS cuts, higher transport costs and cuts in back to school allowances. Is it death by a thousand cuts? Can the Minister bring forward specific proposals relating to minority faith schools? The Minister has referred to amalgamation in many of his replies on this issue. Has the Department carried out an audit of cost savings that could be achieved through rural school amalgamations throughout the country? There must be pockets of the country where this is more evident, such as in Gaeltacht areas and where there are minority faith areas such as in Cavan and Monaghan.

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