Joe O'Toole (Independent)

It will not be used to provide funding for the school I visited in Sligo last week. It will not address the difficulties experienced by the school in Ballina that I brought to the Minister's attention last week. The money is simply not there. I am not saying this is a poor budget. My point is that many issues have not been addressed. For instance, schools will continue to have to raise funds. This is unacceptable given that the people involved in these schools were allowed by the Government to entertain certain expectations. Perhaps the way to deal with this is to admit that it cannot be done now but will be done next month or next year, but I have not heard that either.

The commitments given have not been delivered upon. The commitment to reduce class sizes cannot be fulfilled because adequate provision has not been made for the increased population of school-going children. Neither can the increase in the capitation grant be made. Thus, there will no significant improvement in primary education. This reality puts some perspective on the welcome initiatives in the budget.