Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

To be fair to the Minister, she rang me yesterday to say that while she would have liked to be here, she was unable to attend as she had business in the lower House. I acknowledge that. She had a wonderful person take her place. While I will not press a division, I would like the Minister to come to the House to set out her plans and the core nature of history for history teachers, the subject generally and knowledge for the future. I do not want to see it become a matter of short courses.

I thank the Minister of State for his time and his reaction. I thank my colleagues also. This is a topic that is not going away. The teachers are very interesting and truthful people who work very hard. They have taken on the Department, which has had to capitulate, reverse, change and come to an agreement. Something will have to be done about this as well and I would like to give the Minister the opportunity. I thank the History Teachers Association of Ireland and those people who work in the area who are in the Visitors Gallery this afternoon.