Mary Henry (Independent)

I add my support to the call for a debate on education. Of course one need not have had third level education to have an important job but one may be badly paid even though one's job is important. Perhaps one may not even have had second level education.

How many Senators read today's report in the health supplement of The Irish Times by Ms Katherine Holmquist about the level of education among cleaners in our hospitals? The article points out that their pay is €10 an hour at best, that many of them feel their literacy is so poor they could not go forward for promotion, that most of them are women and that a very large number of them left school before the age of 15.

We should examine this issue to see how the schools these people attended explain the fact that they ran into such a terrible situation. These people have values and many of them are heads of households which is why they must maintain themselves in these jobs. These jobs are important. Recently we spoke of the horrific hygiene report on hospitals. We concentrate on what people with third level education should be doing instead of trying to see how we could help those who, in fact, are trying to deal with cleaning up our hospitals. When we have that debate, I hope we will also consider those who do not get through second level education.