Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Not proceeding now is not saving the Government any money. Advocating the idea that we do not have the resources to ramp up whatever training needs to be provided results in a waste of money in other areas. There are children in my area who, because of circumstances at home, must go to school a little earlier than they would otherwise go. They are causing a problem because they are obviously not as well developed as other children in their class whose parents can afford to pay for an extra year, for example. This is a major disadvantage and represents a bad start.

It is like getting two seeds, putting one in good soil, the other in bad soil and then complaining that they did not grow well. We see the stark results in my home town where €100,000 is spent every year to try to do the impossible in Castlerea Prison, but there is no money available to help people at the beginning. We see it starkly and it is frustrating that we do not see a solution to it.

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