Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Needless to say, I do not accept the necessity for education cuts. It is simply extraordinary that we will pay €3.1 billion out at the end of this month for an Anglo Irish Bank promissory note while the Government thinks it is okay to cut education.

I do not see, particularly in education, how the Government - I take the point that the Minister is put within certain limits - does not recognise that this is cutting off its nose to spite its face. If there is one area that should be critical, both in terms of its vulnerability because it is our children and its strategic importance in terms of our future capacity to develop economically and socially, it is education. If one cuts, as the Government is doing, at the quality of education for all the students, and there simply cannot be any doubt that such will be the result of these education cuts, then the effect at every single level for the future of our society will be negative.

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