Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael)

Ba mhaith liom ar dtús failte a chur riomh an tAire isteach sa teach seo. I agree with my colleague, Senator Cullinane, that decisions should be based on the criteria he outlined. I do not want to make a party political point but I stated here last week, or even yesterday - the iron chains of memory are failing me - when Senators said that jobs would be lost here and there as a result of the barracks closures, that the relevant Minister should take into account the fact that the provision of the service is the requirement. That may sound callous but I agree with the Senator that as we come to have new politics involving all parties that will be the basis of our decisions and statistics become even more important in that regard.

Regarding my own area, that of education, the programme for Government makes clear that the Government is determined that all young people will leave school able to read, communicate orally, in writing and in digital media, and be able to understand the use of mathematics in their everyday lives and in further learning. In the foreword of the national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy among children and young people the Minister, Deputy Quinn, states:

... we know that some children are not developing these skills as they should. Information from national assessments of reading and mathematics, from inspections in schools and from international studies have shown that many students in Irish schools are not developing literacy and numeracy skills to the best of their abilities.

That gives the lie to the idea that we have the best education system in the world. One cannot argue with the facts. We cannot allow that to continue.

On the general issue of statistics, I cite the great nurse, Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp, who was portrayed in Hollywood film as a sentimental character but who was in reality as formidable as any Blackpool landlady, as anyone who has been to Blackpool for their holidays would know. She said:

I collected my figures with a purpose in mind, with the idea that they could be used to argue for change. Of what use are statistics if we do not know what to make of them? What we wanted at that time was not so much an accumulation of facts, as to teach the men who are to govern the country the use of statistical facts.

These words are as relevant to the development of public policy today as they were 150 years ago when Ms Nightingale uttered them in support of her campaign to improve the appalling sanitary conditions in military hospitals. Measuring Up to the Measurement Problem states:

By carefully collecting and analysing mortality statistics of men [They were all men at that time.] admitted to the field hospital of Scutari during the Crimean War, she was able to show that injured soldiers were seven times more likely to die from diseases contracted in the hospital, such as cholera and typhus, than from wounds received on the battlefield. On returning to England, she found that 20-30 year old soldiers living in army barracks during peacetime were twice as likely to die as men in the same age group in the general population. She used these figures to launch a campaign which revolutionised sanitary conditions in military establishments, helped transform the career of nursing and secured her election as the first female Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Our Minister for Education and Skills knew what to do with the statistics gathered from information from national assessments of reading and mathematics based on inspections in schools and international studies. Consequently, the Government has identified a serious weakness that will, if action is not taken, affect the future of many of our children. As a result, the national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy among children and young people has clearly identified the action required.