Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator O'Brien and endorse everthing he said in calling on the Minister for Education and Skills to come before the House - I agree with Senator Conway in this regard - for a comprehensive debate on education. It is not only about the students who were protesting last year. As somebody once said, students have been revolting for years, but that is their right. However, it is somewhat ironic.

With all due respect to Senator Whelan, I could not help but to reflect when he was making what was a defence of the Government, as I wouldif I were on his side of the House. If he was still the editor of a provincial newspaper, no doubt his editorial this week would be screaming at the Government about the nefarious activities in which it was involved. I could even write the headline, "Broken Pledges". That is exactly what this is about. It is not so much about what the outgoing Fianna Fáil Administration proposed. I will put up my hands and state that it was proposing a number of the changes the Government is implementing, but the difference is that the then spokesperson on education publicly pledged that he would not implement them when he in government.