Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I have not shifted all my life; it is Fianna Fáil that moved. In the process of rediscovering itself, perhaps it could look at the other 15 cuts and in particular, given the daft notions that emanate from the Minister for Education and Science occasionally, it could look at the back to education allowance and its effective destruction as an encouragement to those from underprivileged backgrounds to continue in education, which is one of the stated objectives of the Minister for Education and Science. The back to education allowance was a simple, effective and workable way to help those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Could we occasionally hear from somebody here about the process of government? A description was given yesterday in another place of a fairly chaotic process of government, in which Ministers were continually interrupted by people bringing delegations to meet Ministers to such an extent that people could not remember who they had met or what business they were doing that day. What sort of system of government is governed by perpetual interruptions by delegations? I thought we had a system of collective government. I now know it is a system of collective interruption.