Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I did not suggest it was an exclusive effort, but as our spokesperson, he fought the fight from the outset to ensure the junior certificate would be recognised as a State examination. He also pushed actual reform not along the lines suggested by the former Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, but in the manner which has now been accommodated in a compromise by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. However, she has not gone far enough. Senator Michael Mullins called for further negotiations, but my understanding is that the teaching unions are wide open for further negotiations and that the ball is in the Government's court. It is the Government that has made the proposals, but it has failed to go far enough. I say this to the Senator and anyone else. There is outright opposition to the principle of internal assessment.
I commend an article by Fintan O'Toole in The Irish Timestoday to Members who are interested in this subject. He points to the flaws of internal assessment. I will not go into the detail, but it opens up a variety of scenarios, not least the question of favouritism by teachers or the possibility that a school might watch a neighbouring school to see how its marking was going to ensure they attracted more pupils by adjusting accordingly. This is wide open to exploitation and not in the best interests of pupils. Parents are not totally supportive of the Government's proposals, although I am not at all surprised that the parents' representative grouping has indicated its support, given that it is funded by the Department of Education and Skills. It would, would it not?
In essence, the door to negotiation is open as far as the teaching unions are concerned. Fianna Fáil is not in favour of strike action which would be premature at this stage. I agree with Senator Michael Mullins that the motion put to union members when the decision on strike action was taken did not include the proposals that have been adopted by the Minister in the past couple of weeks. I plead with the Minister to come out again and go further as this issue will not go away. The unions, a large proportion of parents and pupils are opposed to internal assessment One of my colleagues said at our party meeting this morning that he was at a school in his constituency yesterday when the matter was raised not by teachers but by the pupils. I call on the Minister to take another step further and abolish internal assessment. We could then move on to ensure pupils have a properly focused junior certificate examination.

I call for an urgent debate in the House on proposals by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to de-zone large tracts of land around the country, most notably in my county and particularly in Roscommon town. These are the same officials who are dictating to local authorities that allowed for the zoning of these lands in the first place. One case in Roscommon town involved a man who had received planning permission for 166 houses on zoned land. He spent €250,000 bringing services to that site, and at the height of the crash he realised that it was not feasible to build 166 houses because there was no market for them. He decided to extend his planning permission for a further five years. That planning permission is up in less than 12 months, his land will be de-zoned and he will be out of pocket to the tune of €250,000. This is terribly unfair. There is no need to de-zone land because the market itself will decide the demand that is out there. We urgently need a debate with the Minister to see whether we can come to some arrangement. Perhaps zoned tracts of land for which people have received planning permission should be left zoned.