Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

In many rural communities, the school, Protestant and Catholic churches, GAA club and local shop are the institutions on and around which the community is built. These are foundations we must seek to protect. However, the continuing trend towards urbanisation continues to pose a threat to these foundations and it is one that we cannot ignore. Between 1963 and 1973, two revered leaders of the Fianna Fáil Party, Seán Lemass and, subsequently, Jack Lynch, closed 1,000 one and two teacher schools in rural areas. In 1992, the then Minister for Education, the late Séamus Brennan, had a policy to amalgamate all schools with four teachers or fewer. We have been here before and the Deputies opposite were Members of this House at the time.

See this speech in context