Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know that. There has been media commentary to that effect, which is why today's debate is important. It allows the Minister to set out an answer to the criticism. History and geography are vital and the Minister has said that it is not his intention to downgrade these subjects. We all know the advantages of history and geography and the Minister is well aware of it.

The unions have raised some concerns around how this was announced. We addressed the matter during Question Time on Tuesday when the Minister said he was meeting the unions. The unions met officials from the Minister's Department on Tuesday and outlined their concerns. We cannot change what has happened but we must work in the collective manner to which I referred earlier. We must take on board the concerns and address them as best as possible.

We will see the benefit of these proposals in the long term. We cannot look at this in isolation. We must consider the overall reform the Minister is trying to implement. I appeal to people to work together constructively and to be open-minded about proposals. What we are attempting has not been done before. There will be challenges in doing that.

There is also a huge opportunity and we must grasp it. We are talking about improving an aspect of post-primary education and making courses more suitable for students rather than gearing them towards one examination. What we are beginning will shape future educational experiences for hundreds of thousands of students who will come through our system.

We look forward to working with the Minister on those challenges and we will play our part in that in a full and constructive manner. Where there is criticism to be levelled we will level it. When good proposals come forward we will recognise them. We look forward to working with the Minister in the coming weeks, months and years in implementing this reform. We all want the same thing. We may differ on how to get there and on the timeframes but we all want to achieve the same thing. I wish the Minister well in the task he has undertaken and we look forward to working with him on it.

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