Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

An attack on schools in rural Ireland is the last thing this policy aims to achieve. I come from rural Ireland and I attended a two-teacher school in rural Ireland. My mother taught for 42 years in the same school. I am not launching an attack on rural Ireland. We are trying to ensure that the quality of the education provided in every institution, be it from the two-teacher school to the 15-teacher school, is of the same standard and that pupils emanating from that system have the best possible education made available to them.

I do not agree with the Deputy that we have exhausted all the amalgamation opportunities at this stage. Perhaps we may have done so in some communities, such as those he mentioned. The publication of the value for money report will allow us to have that debate and discussion. It is reasonable to suggest that one solution may work in one part of rural Ireland and may not be the solution for the other part of rural Ireland. We will look at all those opportunities when the debate begins.

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