John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I support the statement by Senator Brian Hayes on the unprovoked attack on a member of the fire service. We should have strong laws to protect those working in our emergency services. It is not unusual for false calls to lure Garda cars, fire engines or ambulances into an area where they can be attacked by people. A clear message must go out on this issue.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on education, particularly on the points system. It would not be appropriate to do so now as the exams are ongoing. However there have been calls in the last few days for an examination of the points system on higher level maths and science subjects. This has been raised several times at the Joint Committee on Education and Science. The time has come for a review of the points system. In certain schools and colleges pupils, my son included, are encouraged not to take honours maths because of the amount of time it consumes but to take up other subjects instead. The code for playing the CAO system has been cracked in certain schools. I believe we should have a debate on this in the autumn.

There are concerns relating to the higher level maths paper but they will be dealt with in the fullness of time. A report today points out that yesterday's higher level geography paper was produced in colour while the ordinary level paper was unfortunately produced in black and white. The colour paper gives a significant advantage to students in analysing graphs and such. We should have a debate on all of these issues in the autumn.