Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Notwithstanding that there have been policy failures in multiple areas by this Government, the principle of Cabinet subcommittees is a good one because it allows for joined-up thinking between different Departments. I want to ask again about the need for a Cabinet subcommittee in the area of education. We did not have one in the previous Government and it is critical that we have one for multiple reasons. There is a lot of controversial issues emerging. Education, it goes without saying, is a very important area.

In particular, as I have said to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education and Skills, there is a very serious threat to the facilities of schools throughout the country because of religious control of schools and school lands. To my mind, playing pitches and recreational areas around school are not an optional extra. They are critical for all sorts of health reasons and to allow for the expansion of schools, and yet we have discovered in many schools, such as Clonkeen College in my own area, religious orders are flogging off their lands at the expense of the quality of the education and amenities provided to school students. The Government is letting it happen.

There needs to be a serious policy discussion at a high level within the Government about the threat this represents to school facilities. I have said I believe that compulsory purchase powers have to be used to prevent the religious orders, who are accountable to nobody, flogging off playing fields and recreational areas for schools all over the country. I would ask the Taoiseach to seriously consider that instead of merely saying it is nothing to do with the Government, the religious orders are private entities and the Government does not have any control. This is what we are getting and it is a threat to the quality of the education that is available to our young people.

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