John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

The motion was tabled in the hope that it would afford Members of the House an opportunity to make known their views, which, it is to be hoped, the OECD review group would consider and take on board. I welcome the fact that the motion has not been opposed, but I am somewhat disappointed that many Members, particularly in the Opposition, did not avail themselves of the opportunity to speak to the motion, stick to the terms of reference or put on the record the changes they would like to see. A review is a review, and for Members to stand up in the House, defend the status quo and say that everything is rosy because they are on the Government benches was to waste an opportunity as it was for the Opposition to come in and attack the Government on one area — insufficient funding.

Some Members made valuable speeches, and I will go through some of the comments made. I mentioned, and a number of Members highlighted, the roles of teacher and researcher. We must be careful that we do not undervalue teachers and overvalue researchers, because the teachers will give us the researchers of tomorrow. I am also disappointed that we did not hear the Fine Gael proposals on governance, which is a much debated issue at the moment.

I thank the Members who spoke. I do not agree with those who said that the Government has a vendetta against third-level institutions. There is no evidence to support that. On the contrary, the evidence clearly states that we place a huge value on education. I agree completely with Senator Mansergh on how important education is for Ireland's future and how high a priority he would make it.

The Government's invitation to the OECD to review education is an admission of how important the Government considers education to be to the future of Ireland and its economy. The OECD review in the 1960s shaped the future of education in the country, and as the Minister of State said in his speech, the time has come now again for a review. There is no doubt that there is huge change in our approach to third-level education, and it is timely that Ireland be reviewed by outside experts who will give us food for thought.

I look forward to the debate on the publication of the review and I hope that, when we come to debate it, we will consider the future role of higher education, the strategic management and structures, teaching, research and development and how we invest in and finance our educational system. That is the purpose of the review, and I hope that we will learn from it.