Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I apologise for arriving late for the Adjournment debate last night through my own fault. I am grateful for every opportunity to raise a matter on the Adjournment debate which is one of the most important opportunities available to Senators to elicit information from Departments. On that basis, I was disappointed to note that the Department of Education and Skills issued a factually incorrect reply when I raised schooling in Ashbourne during the Adjournment debate last week. While I am not accusing the Minister of misleading the House, I am accusing his Department of not knowing what it is doing in respect of education in the commuter belt. Given the various crises we have experienced in education in recent years, one would expect the Department to have learned a few lessons and know how to do things. I was informed in the House last week that there would be seven junior infant classes in Ashbourne in September. It came as news to the Minister when I informed him that there should be at least eight junior infant classes in the town in September. This discrepancy caused considerable confusion on the ground in Ashbourne and as a result of the Seanad debate, the issue was covered on local radio. On the programme in question, Deputy Regina Doherty of the Fine Gael Party agreed with my analysis of the position and expressed disappointment with the reply provided to me in the House. When the local radio station sought a response from the Department, it became obvious that officials had listened to the discussion and were aware of the information I had provided because the Department's press statement differed from the information it provided in the Chamber last week. I hope this does not mean officials treat the Seanad differently from the media.

I hope it means that they listen to what I said in the Seanad last week and change their tack. It is part of a continuous attack on the commuter belt by the Labour Party and Fine Gael. They do not know what they are doing in respect of education, and in County Meath they have just merged the two Garda districts in the commuter belt, namely, the Ashbourne district and the Laytown district, which cover half the county, and left three other districts in the other part of the county.

We must have a debate on the commuter belt where the population is still increasing all the time but the resources are not being allocated in line with that. The Labour Party got a lot of votes in the commuter belt this time, but it has let the people down in those areas through education, health and now the Garda district arrangements in County Meath. We need a full debate on that matter.