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

After 18 months of this report being on the Department's desk, the fact that the current Minister is merely in the process of reading it demonstrates this is an issue about which the Government has no real intention of having an honest debate or of publishing, in order that everyone can address it. I reiterate that a key feature of the Government has been the pressure it has mounted on four, three and two-teacher schools, as well as the number of one-teacher schools it has created as a result. Members hear nothing from the Minister about the issue of educational quality in these schools as a result of the measures the Government has been taking. Instead, the Minister talks about sustainability, as she goes about making schools unsustainable. I urge the Minister to publish the report and to have no more of the same old story to which Members have been listening for almost two years and to which it appears they also will be listening for the next 18 months until the next general election. An honest debate is needed in this regard. The Government must front up and the Minister should publish the report in order that a real debate can be held to ensure the education of children and how that is done will be put at the centre of this Dáil.

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