Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have brought forward a €1 billion extra investment in education and we have set a target that we will be the best in Europe within a decade. On the issue of early school leaving and drop-out, we are now making huge progress. We have seen our position drop from 14th place to 7th. In respect of people in the age bracket 20 to 24, we are now second best in Europe in terms of those who have completed higher level second level, so we are one of the best in Europe. I admit that if one looks at the older population, we are not as good but it is much harder to influence people who are long since out of the education system. We are putting huge emphasis on our work on delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, and on improving literary standards. I would also say that the Bertelsmann Foundation is a very partial view; it does not look at, for example, our investment in special educational needs or our investment in bringing 32% more people from disadvantaged backgrounds into our higher education sector. Therefore, it is a partial measure, but it has lessons for us. Our investment in the preschool sector clearly needs to continue to improve, and the Minister, Deputy Zappone, has put in place a very ambitious programme to do that. Much of this data is quite old.

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