Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

This is, broadly, a very encouraging report. As most of the statistical aspects have already been addressed in the debate, I will confine myself to a few points. As a parent of five children going through the national school system, I regard our public primary education service as excellent. In my belief and experience, the vast majority of teachers are hard-working and committed, believing in what they are doing. As Senator O'Toole indicated, if we are to refer to benchmarking in this context, I believe we have a very productive teaching profession, broadly speaking. That is the key to the system, given that, in material respects, the system has been somewhat under-resourced.

Last night, the House debated transport infrastructure. It is not always recognised that education is just as vital a part of our infrastructure – arguably even more so than roads, railways and traffic issues. Obviously, we are not dealing with an either-or situation. However, education is vital for our competitiveness as well as human development and the quality of our society. I wish to see it given a very high priority in the context of the current Estimates. There are marvellous new schools, buildings and so on but, unfortunately, they tend to highlight the unimproved facilities. There is a backlog to be dealt with but I do not want so much to be attempted that it causes inflation to go through the roof or anything like that. I recognise and appreciate it has to be done in a staged way but I hope, subject to that caveat, that the maximum amount is put into working on those facilities to provide what the Taoiseach referred to at the weekend so that we end up with a world-class education system.

We need to be very careful about making sure we maintain the credibility of our standards and our examination system. Our neighbours across the water have got into some difficulty on that score in that there is a feeling that standards are diluted or manipulated. There is a certain objectivity about the intermediate and leaving certificate examinations and one needs to be very careful. I am not saying it should not be reformed or modified, but one needs to ensure that it is done without damage to the credibility of the results.