Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I do not want to score any political points here as the issue is too important. Education is the key investment not only in our children's future but also in our nation's future. Let us proceed with caution on all sides. Let us be really careful with the decisions we make. I support a number of aspects of the Government amendment. I welcome the review on DEIS urban schools. It is laudable that resource teachers and special needs assistants have been kept. I acknowledge that small schools receive more favourable capitation and there is an appeals mechanism, but we need information on that appeals process. When will it happen and will there be a particular form? Schools are crying out for those details now. The issue of career guidance needs attention.

I will offer some constructive feedback on small rural schools as the main focus of my contribution. I will give an honest appraisal based on having taught in rural and urban schools, supervised teachers in rural and urban schools, and worked in teacher education. I have three recommendations each of which carries a question. I ask the Minister, Deputy Quinn, to give small rural communities one year to come up with local solutions to plan their own education futures. I would be delighted if we could get agreement across the House on this issue tonight. At the moment these schools have not been given an opportunity to plan and the decisions were made based on last September's numbers. I am asking for just one year up to September of this year, which is only seven months away. That is so little to ask given that this is such a major decision for communities that will lose a teacher and go from two to one or from three to two because we know that a one-teacher school is not a sustainable unit into the future. Given that the babies born today will be in school in four years' time, the Minister should ask each school for a four-year plan to be submitted within one year. I ask Senators to imagine if we asked GAA clubs to amalgamate - there are more than 5,000 of them.