Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and acknowledge her courtesy to my three sons when they recently visited Leinster House. The Minister chatted to them and they were taken with her description of the Seanad as a centre for talented adults. I hope today's debate confirms that. This is a significant debate on an important area.

Education is the greatest catalyst for opportunity we have. It liberates and empowers people. A holistic education is the greatest gift we can give children and adults. We cannot forget that the greatest resource in our education system is our teachers. We have an extraordinarily committed, professional teaching force at primary and secondary level. They have adapted to new curricula, multiculturalism, changes in population structure and the complexities of modern society with great ease and professionalism through personal stress and effort. They invest hours beyond the school day in doing so and we must not lose our sense of gratitude to our extraordinary teachers.

In the context of creating equality of opportunity in a society founded on egalitarian principles, the creation of a State system of preschooling or the mainstreaming of what is happening in child care is of critical importance. My colleagues in the Labour Party will have much to say on that. Much is being done at community level and great work is being done through community child care groups. However this is patchy and the costs can be prohibitive, even with subvention. With little capital expenditure we could create a preschool system, and we should do so. There need be virtually no capital expenditure because many buildings will have been obtained through the capital grant schemes over recent years for preschools at all community levels, and those buildings are available for use.

There are also resource houses in many communities which could be used. Through an imaginative use of the school day many primary schools, or sections of them, could be used to create a preschool system. Nothing could more militate against disadvantage than a State preschool system. It is very necessary. Obviously, it could have a voluntary dimension but it should be developed by the State. If it is to develop incrementally it should focus initially on disadvantaged areas but I do not believe it should be incremental. Radical plans should be put in place to provide it.

In a recent collection of essays, Fergus Finlay of Barnados drew attention to the fact that Ireland rates with Turkey, or is below the radar, in the OECD in terms of its contribution to preschool education. That is very serious, and we should do something about it. I commend the provision of preschool education to the Minister as an important social reform.

When the Minister was last in the House I raised the obvious need for advance planning to cater for the new commuter belts and the movements of population. This is clear even in my constituency where many people have moved and continue to move from Dublin to live in the south Cavan area. This is great news to the extent that the population is being augmented and we welcome that. However, there is a crisis with space. There must be more planning and the Department will have to be more visionary in identifying where population growth is occurring and liaising with various bodies, such as the planning authorities, to identify those areas and to put in place infrastructure. We did not use the builders enough, particularly during the boom. There was not enough emphasis on requiring builders to create this infrastructure in large estates by contributing to the building of schools and providing areas for them. Far more could be done in this regard. It is important that we get this issue resolved and that, in future, we do not simply react to development but are involved at the outset of the development by ensuring the provision of educational facilities. We are familiar with the cases that arose in north County Dublin this year.

It remains important on every public occasion to acknowledge the enormous contribution, when nobody else would make it, of the Catholic Church to the provision of education in this country and to acknowledge the voluntary investment of people and resources in that regard. In any new configuration of education provision to cater for multiculturalism and new population centres, the role of the church should never be ignored and compensation, where it arises, should be paid. It should be a real part of the ongoing structures. We must also acknowledge people's right to denominational education should they wish to have it, as most people do. This is important, particularly in my constituency, where minority communities, such as the Church of Ireland, Presbyterians and other faiths, wish to preserve their identities and personal lifestyles. They want schools to preserve their ethos and we must be cognisant of that.

Immigration is extraordinarily important at present. Currently, there are 28,000 pupils in our schools who do not speak English as their first language and 35% of pupils are not English speakers. The provision of English classes for parents is important. There are developments in this area but more could be done. Will the Minister outline how this is progressing? Immigration should be seen as an opportunity. All empirical research suggests that the influx of new people, cultures and personalities into classrooms only increases academic excellence rather than the contrary, if the resources are put in place. It will be necessary to maintain the number of teachers in order that they can provide English classes for both pupils and parents. We must also continue to be conscious of integration. Given the recent occurrences of social disorder in Paris and other places arising from ethnic tensions and immigration, we must take the opportunity to prevent similar problems occurring here.

Discipline remains a huge issue in schools, despite the high calibre of the teaching profession. All schools should have to accept their share of disadvantaged pupils; there should be no cherry-picking. The Minister told the TUI congress that the Department is conducting an audit of enrolment policies and statistics in schools. What was the outcome of that audit? Are all schools coping with the inclusion of special needs pupils, Travellers, non-nationals and students of all communities and classes? There is a two tier system but can the Minister confirm we are not contributing to it but doing everything to prevent it? I agree with the Minister's remarks on the grind schools as reported in the national media today. The bottom line is that we should have in place policies to prevent schools acquiring an in-built advantage in that respect.

My colleague Senator Buttimer will speak about the National Educational Psychological Service or NEPS. There are problems with the lack of availability of the NEPS throughout the country. There is still a huge time lag between the time a difficulty is identified by the teacher in the classroom and the subsequent assessment. By the time intervention occurs, the problem can be too far advanced. What is the Minister doing about this? There is still an inadequate number of educational psychologists.

The director of Teagasc, Professor Gerry Boyle, a native of the Minister's county, recently made the point that the university modular system should be used to halt the flight from the land and to facilitate working with industry, communities and so forth. In particular, he said some of the modules in university courses could be used to assist both awareness of agriculture and investment in agriculture and diversification. Perhaps his suggestion would be examined.

Finally, will the Minister explain what is being done in schools in the life skills education area to tackle substance abuse and the issue of teenage pregnancies? What courses are in place? There is overall pastoral care in the schools and the teachers and school authorities do their best but what is provided of a structured nature? Schools must be used in a holistic sense to provide life skills for dealing with issues such as teenage pregnancies and addiction. In addition, pupils should be trained in the acceptance of ethnic diversity. I look forward to the Minister's response on how we are progressing in those areas.