Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator O'Toole remembers it quite well. Each Minister is different and if the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Noel Dempsey, believes the annual conference is an outdated format, he is fully entitled to his opinion. He will do the business in some other fashion. It will seem odd not to have reports. The Minister is usually the butt of all that goes on, with everything, metaphorically speaking, being thrown, and all he or she can do is grin and bear it. One feels like kicking them all.