Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Yesterday a tough and stark budget was announced. I said then that we would judge it on a number of criteria, including whether it was fair, reforming, contained a stimulus plan and protected the vulnerable. It showed no evidence of any of these. It will hit the vulnerable, is very tough on families and provides little by way of a stimulus or job creation package. It marked the culmination of failed policies from the Government in terms of its management of the economy, in regulating and managing banking and failing to make the right decisions in recent years. We will shortly have an opportunity to discuss it. However, the devil is in the detail. When one examines what is happening in schools and, for example, the national education and psychological service, in respect of which there is an 18% cutback, one is concerned for children and families who are being severely hit.

I ask the Leader to set out his plans in terms of the sitting arrangements leading up to Christmas and in the final days in office of the Government. The Green Party stated it would be leaving government in the second half of January. Perhaps the Deputy Leader might indicate us the timeframe for the general election in terms of the passing of necessary legislation.

There is a disturbing report in today's newspapers on education. An international study shows that Ireland has fallen from 5th to 17th place in terms of reading skills. There is something extraordinary happening in our schools and with our young people, given that some 17% of children are low achievers when it comes to reading. In the case of maths, Ireland has fallen from 16th to 26th place and in the case of science, it continues to be ranked 18th among OECD countries. We need to debate what is happening in our schools and the reason our children are falling behind in what is a most critical period. Therefore, I call for a debate on education as soon as possible.