Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I strongly endorse what Senators O'Toole and Tuffy said about league tables. Newspapers publish ropy tables and say it is the duty of the Government to publish accurate tables in their place. In Tipperary yesterday, the Minister for Education and Science strongly refuted the idea that the Government should provide any sanction to that proposal.

We should debate this as much for the benefit of the media as for others. It implies that the best or most worthy schools are those that send the most people to third level education and that others, which may be operating in the inner city or teaching people from deprived backgrounds, are the least worthy schools. The educational philosophy behind it is outrageous and encourages simplistic snobbery and one-upmanship. There are many good reasons people may not wish to go to third level. This matter must be thoroughly debated and the media pressure should be firmly resisted.