Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Minister sought to dampen such advancements, despite the fact that those now in Government said we were not doing or spending enough. He sought to dampen our advancements and compared it to buying elections.

Deputies should have a bit of respect. I and my colleagues on this side of the House make no apology for the investments we made in education. We expect an apology from the Government for the misleading manner in which it sought election and the subsequent abandonment of supposed core policies in education. Make no mistake about it, the Government, by virtue of the last budget, has begun to make its own choices and decisions and will be judged on them in the future.In arriving at those decisions and making those choices education is well down the list of priorities.

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