Mary Moran (Labour)

Not at all. I beg the Senator's pardon. The first time I read the Fianna Fáil motion I felt disconnected.

I wish to address some of the education issues. In regard to the student registration fees at third level, it is worth noting that under the Fianna Fáil Administration the student registration fee increased by 950% between 1996 and 2011. The era of free fees ended under the last Government many years ago. In contrast, regrettably, the increase in the last budget amounted to 12%. It goes without saying that the last thing the Government wanted was to introduce change or take from education.

As a parent of three children in university next year feel the pinch as everybody did. The Government has rightly concentrated on the top priority which was to protect the pupil teacher ratio, resource teachers and the SNA allocations.

The motion proposed by Fianna Fáil calls on the Government to protect front-line services in education in particular to the most disadvantaged. I remind Senators that the DEIS scheme was fully protected by the Labour Party in the budget.