Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann, conscious of the promises made by Government parties in the general election campaign that no cutbacks in public services were planned, condemns the Minister for Education and Science for increasing third level registration fees by 70%; slashing by €11 million initiatives to tackle school drop out rates; reducing by €6 million information technology development; reducing the teacher training budget by €6 million; failing properly to fund existing policy in the area of adult education; and, in view of the confusion surrounding recent comments made by the Minister on the future of free third level fees, calls on the Government to support unequivocally the principle of free tuition fees in primary, secondary and third level education.

I welcome the Minister on his first formal visit to the Seanad. The amendment proposed by the Government side in no way gives a clear and unequivocal guarantee that we will have free primary, secondary and third level education in the future.

The Minister made many hasty decisions in his previous ministry during the term of the last Government. I suppose he regretted them afterwards when he had time to mull over them. In five months the Minister has outdone his predecessor, whose record was fairly dismal regarding education. He was passive and lackadaisical. As Minister, Deputy Woods brought parents of seriously physically handicapped children through the courts in order to deny them their entitlements to educational services and the right to further their education. Is it not odd that today in Limerick there is a 13 year old autistic boy retained in an adult psychiatric unit? It is an indictment on the Minister that he cannot provide a full-time place for that boy where he will be looked after and provided with the proper facilities to which he is entitled.