Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. There is a degree of hypocrisy in making it more difficult for some small schools to operate through changes to the PTR, minor works grant and capitation fees while seeking greater plurality.

Undoubtedly there is an issue of how we provide choice to parents but the Minister's approach has been unfortunate. When he entered office, he announced to great fanfare that he would change the patronage of 50% of primary schools, more than 1,500 national schools. The reality, however, is somewhat different, with the Minister talking about changing the patronage of 28 national schools, less than 1% of the total.

The Minister's approach from the outset has been unfortunate and I note the Catholic Church has been willing to work with the Minister on this and indicated its cooperation with the surveys on patronage. Would the Minister of State agree that the response to the patronage surveys in many areas was disappointing?

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