Dan Boyle (Green Party)

That is why such decisions have to be made. It is easy to make cheap political points. In the past we have given out those kinds of signals. Senator Buttimer might be aware of the system that applied previously as we are of a generation that lived through the recession of the 1980s. At least then there was the option of getting onto a job scheme to allow oneself to put something on one's CV that could help to give one an opportunity of a job in the future. When I was given that opportunity in the early 1980s from the then national Manpower scheme, before FÁS came into existence, that job placement scheme paid £30 a week when the dole payment for someone of my age was £40. Our social welfare system and our job training schemes are riddled with such inconsistencies. What we need to offer people are educational and training opportunities and the ability to reach their potential through the many billions of euro the State provides in the form of education.

What is particularly mealy-mouthed of the Opposition is that no consideration has been given to recent Government agreements, especially the review of the programme for Government in terms of the protection that has been given to education. I refer, for example, to the protection of the pupil-teacher ratio and the provision of additional teachers.