Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I wish to declare that I was a primary school teacher before I became a Senator. I may still be a member of the INTO, although I am not too sure. Maybe Senator Fitzgerald could advise me on that.

Primary education is beyond doubt the foundation stone of the education system and of the continued social and economic progress we have experienced in recent years. The Department of Education and Science has a dreadful record. If it were a business, it would have been bankrupt years ago. A child born in 2002 will go to school in 2006, so the Department has four years advance warning to cater for that.