Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I express my sympathy on the death of Mrs. Sadie Walsh, the mother of the very respected Seanad reporter, Mr. Jimmy Walsh. She died yesterday in her 91st year and is being reposed from today until her burial on Saturday. The notice is in today's Irish Independent.

I draw attention to the report by Carl O'Brien in today's The Irish Times headed "Severe literacy problems persist despite 25 years of programmes". Almost one third of children who live in disadvantaged areas and one tenth of children nationally have severe literacy problems. Despite the Celtic tiger and all the money we have had, we have not got to the bottom of this issue. It is shocking to think of one tenth of our little children not being literate. Ms Maureen Gaffney describes being literate as being like the oxygen for engaging in society. The researchers at the National Economic and Social Forum state that children who do not read, write or communicate effectively at primary level are much more likely to leave school early, be unemployed or in low-skilled jobs and more likely to end up in poverty and in our prisons. Every child born into this world, no matter what social class he or she is in, starts off with the same dreams and aspirations. Sadly, along the way, these change owing to income inequality, and all the international research shows that this country has severe income inequality.

I draw the attention of my colleagues to a book called The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.