Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A debate on the value for money report is a matter for the Whips. I have no problem asking that such a debate be organised. I want to reiterate that while the report has been published, the Government has not made any decision to implement any element of it and does not intend to implement anything other than what has already been implemented in regard to small schools, which has been widely welcomed countrywide.

With regard to the database, we have had a secondary database for years, which gathers the same type of information and is very useful in terms of planning literacy and numeracy strategies and so on. We are in continuous conversation with the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure that anything that we do with regard to the primary database is in compliance with our obligations with regard to data protection. It should be recognised at post primary level that this is a very useful tool which is designed to improve the educational opportunities for children.

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