Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

With his professional background and his expertise in education it must be a major embarrassment for him to be sent in here in this manner. I sympathise with him in that regard as I do with Senator Browne, who seconded the motion.

I acknowledge that each of the areas listed in the Senator's motion is an important area in its own right. The Minister of State will concur with that view when he replies to the debate; if the Minister were here she would concur with it also. Each of those issues is part of the holistic approach to providing a top quality service in education and would merit a debate in its own right, irrespective of the sweeping assertions made in the motion before the House. However, lumping together all these serious issues in a motion on which we will have a two hour debate smacks of crude political opportunism. I would go so far as to suggest it reflects a party mindset unsure of itself. There is no clear education policy from Fine Gael. Such a policy should have been handed to Senator Ulick Burke to debate in this Chamber. Within two months of a general election all we get is this motion. I am not impressed. If the truth were known, Senator Burke is not impressed with having that foisted on him. Fine Gael appears to have decided that if it cannot make a strike with the first shot, it will keep slinging the mud because some of it is bound to stick.

The Minister and the Minister of State against whom this hotchpotch motion is directed can be justifiably proud of their record of achievement in education. In both their cases, they have been in situ for a very short time, the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, being in situ only in recent weeks.