Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. I have great respect for his achievements in other Departments and have no doubt he will bring the same spirit of innovation and courage to this Department and make his mark in an area where innovation is much needed.

I regard education, with health and basic income maintenance, as being the highest priority as far as Government expenditure is concerned. During the general election campaign the most important and frequent issues I encountered concerned education.

Some 40, 50 or 60 years ago we had a spartan education system and some of the buildings from that era are very cramped, particularly where schools are eligible for additional staff. That is a priority. There is a brand new school in Ballyclerihan near Clonmel where the population is exploding. The school has fine facilities, but the problem is that the population is doubling and trebling practically every year. Improving the fabric of schools with as much money as possible is investment that will not be wasted, although I appreciate the Minister has his arguments with the Minister for Finance.

I do not pay much attention to hyperbole about savage cutbacks because every mid-year there are adjustments in expenditure. There are some underspends, but normally more overspends and adjustments must be made as a result. I appreciate that the Opposition feels the need to get its teeth into the Government, but the savagery seems to be totally over the top.

Adult education is vitally important. My sister recently returned from teaching maths in England to the Dublin Institute of Technology and observed that one of the biggest differences between the higher education systems was the greater number of mature students in England. This deficit needs to be addressed as a matter of priority. I applaud the Minister's determination to give educational disadvantage top priority.

There has been debate and controversy regarding third level fees. When they were removed in 1996, the Minister at the time thought it was the right thing to do and thought she was emulating Donogh O' Malley, but there was also a strong political motive in that the Labour Party wanted to secure the middle class vote. There was much criticism, not least from the Fianna Fáil benches, on the equity of the provision and concern that it would not improve access for the disadvantaged. However, time passes and, at the time, the unemployment rate was 10% or 11% whereas today it is 4%.