Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I will not refer to the freedom of information request, about which the Senator may have something to say later. When we ask Ministers to do a job, we should be cognisant of what they say. In this case, two educational experts have come down fairly and squarely on the side of St. Catherine's College continuing as a school of excellence for home economics education. We cannot put their views to one side due to electoral considerations or loyalty to former Members. We should focus on what the experts have told us is in the interests of home economics education. If the Minister were to ask the Department's inspectors of home economics education, they would tell her a different story from that told by her predecessor.

The Minister stated she wanted happy teachers and fairness to schools. Is it fair that two days before the start of the academic term, St. Catherine's College, with its distinguished record over the past 90 years, should receive a call informing it that the game was up? Is it fair that at no stage in the course of the consultations between the college and the Department was a face to face meeting organised between her predecessor and the college or that, at one fell swoop, one stroke of a pen, an entire educational institution was set aside? It is not fair and I believe the Minister appreciates that because it runs contrary to all the statements she has made since her appointment to Cabinet last week. I ask her to reconsider the decision.

I represent a working class area of Dublin. Day in and day out, nutritional questions are among the most important issues to arise as regards the care of families and children. For example, what food are children bringing into schools? What knowledge would help many single parent families make the right choices as regards what to put in their children's lunchboxes and what is eaten at home? The Minister is aware that this is a major problem in areas of deprivation in this city and elsewhere. The notion that Dublin will have no school of home economics flies in the face of the real poverty in many of our estates. This area of education needs to expand because it has so much to offer in terms of teaching young parents in particular the rights and wrongs as regards diet and how to manage one's income to ensure the best possible use of one's budget. These are the kinds of skills we need to impart to many lone parents who are in a vulnerable position. Therefore, the notion that we should simply send all our educational experts in this area to one part of the country is flawed.

The way in which the management of the school has been treated is very shoddy. I understand the Department has offered those involved voluntary redeployment. To where are those concerned to be redeployed? All of the 24 full-time members of staff, who have given their lives to education in one part of our country and produced in excess of 1,800 graduates all over the country, are being told they will be redeployed in one fell swoop. That is not living in the real world.

The Minister is a fair person and I know that if this decision had been hers initially she would not have taken it. Therefore, she should, even at this late stage, offer some hope to St. Catherine's and re-examine the decision. She should ensure not only the future viability of St. Angela's in Sligo but also the viability of St. Catherine's.

The Minister will have the support of the House if she is courageous on this matter. A face-to-face meeting with the board of management and staff should be held and a commitment should be made to review the decision. It is now time for politicians to listen to the teachers, school management and the very people to whom the Minister said she wanted to listen last week. If she does so, they will tell her this decision is wrong.