Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

This is recognised by Deputies in all parties. The Government fully acknowledges this and states clearly in its amendment to the motion that public services, including schools, must continue to be an important part of the social fabric of rural communities. However, this does not mean rural schools can simply stand still or should never have their staffing levels changed to levels that are more affordable and sustainable in these very difficult and challenging economic times.

We must all work hard to ensure our public services are affordable and sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of the country in the 21st century. As the Minister stated last night, this means improving our health system with fewer nurses and doctors, maintaining our infrastructure with fewer engineers and architects and educating our children with fewer teachers.

Small schools always have been and will continue to be a key feature of our educational landscape. I have trust and confidence in the capacity of school principals and teachers to play their part in making the best use of their available resources to achieve the very best possible educational outcomes for their pupils.

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