Averil Power (Fianna Fail)

It is a huge challenge and requires major change in order to cater for everyone. The Minister has correctly pinpointed the need to ensure it does not have an impact on the quality of education. Beyond the religious question, when one asks what is most important about school, patronage is not in the top three as far as I can recall from surveys. The key is to maintain quality of education and to plan a proper transition with a roadmap. Ultimately, it must be informed by the desire of parents at national and local level. Small schools are a major part of the local community and if there are changes, they should be driven by local groups and through partnership with parents.

We welcome the debate and the opportunity to discuss the topic with the Minister before he publishes his response to the forum's proposal in May. We appreciate the scale of the challenge and that significant change is needed. We would like to see it dealt with in a way that caters for diversity without leading to future problems in respect of segregation and social inclusion.