Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhghairdeas a dhéanamh le hoibrithe na tíre ar an lá seo, lá de cheiliúradh agus de chomóradh ar an obair mhaith a dhéantar ar fud na tíre.

I also wish to join in the celebrations of international labour day, a day on which one remembers all workers worldwide, celebrates all their achievements and tries to bring to mind all the difficulties they experience. I commend my colleague, Senator Cullinane, and our assistant, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, who have prepared a Private Members' Bill that will be introduced later in the Dáil on the issue of protecting workers' rights and I look forward to Members of this House discussing it.

There has been much discussion in the House in recent weeks on education cuts. There have been cuts to small and rural schools and to DEIS rural schools, as well as cuts in capitation, cuts for newly-qualified teachers and so on. Consequently, it would be timely for the Minister for Education and Skills to come into the House for a debate on third level education funding, on foot of reports over the weekend about how children of staff of third level institutions have their fees paid for them. Without jumping on a bandwagon and declaring this practice to be completely wrong, I certainly seek clarification on funding for the third level sector in general. Sinn Féin has raised on numerous occasions its problems with regard to the cutbacks that are being imposed while at the other end of the spectrum, senior staff members in universities and third level institutions across the State are in receipt of exorbitant salaries. Sinn Féin has asked for such salaries to be capped but that has not happened.