The question I pose to the Minister of State is what could be achieved if the best possible resources were available to teachers? It is important to look again at the education system. An obvious peculiarity in Irish education is that children begin school so young, yet there is no support by way of pre-education facilities. The options are ad hoc, private or just not available. The age of entry in other countries is much higher than in Ireland. In Australia the age of entry is six or seven while in Ireland it is four years of age on average. Some may say that children are going to school too young. We must ask why this is happening in the current climate. Perhaps the answer is that parents send their children to school at a very young age because often both parents are forced to work to make ends meet. Another factor is the cost of child care facilities and the fact that there is no child support available in a crisis. As there is no State commitment to such facilities the age of entry into primary education is very young. Children who lose out at this early stage must try to catch up for the remainder of their education, and very often they fail. According to the statistics, just less than 20% of pupils drop out of the education system before taking up tertiary education if they have access to it.