Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I am reminded of the phrase which got a British governmental adviser into such trouble some years ago. It seems like today is a good day to bury bad news, given the major headlines on the loans between Irish Life & Permanent and Anglo Irish Bank. Clearly other bad news might well be buried on a day like today and this is why we need the Minister to come to the House and tell Members why he is cutting back on education for children with special needs and ending jobs for their teachers at a time when we need more jobs and unemployment is rising. As Senators O'Toole and Fitzgerald have said we will pay in the future for inadequate education for children with special needs.

I remind the House that last night during the debate on education the Minister said, "The Government is committed to providing targeted support for special needs and has allocated additional funding of €20 million for 2009 to continue to enhance front-line services for these children", that is, for children with special needs. How dare the Minister come to the House last night and tell us that, and then announce this morning that he will cut education for children with special needs. We need to have him in the House. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business and have the Minister come in for half an hour simply to tell Members what on earth he is doing.