Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Deputies for raising very important issues. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, with a view to trying to get the legislation to which Deputy Gogarty referred restored to the Order Paper. It has not come forward from the Department yet. The behaviour in question is very sinister and reprehensible. I do not understand why people do this sort of thing. We can understand it, but I do not understand it, if the Deputy knows what I am getting at. It is horrible. Anything we can do to create legal deterrents and the potential to punish people is important.

On school completion, I will talk to the Minister in respect of the commitment in the programme for Government. The previous Government nearly got there but when Departments are transferring functions, they have a habit of frustrating the best-laid plans. School completion in its entirety should be under the Department of Education. It should be part of the ethos of education to enable every child not just to participate in school but to complete it. That then informs policy in education and curricular matters. If it is divorced from education, focus can sometimes be lost in respect of curriculum design and how the school year is organised and so on. I thank the Deputy for her commitment to school completion throughout her career so far. Hopefully, we can move this on together.

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