Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The baptism barrier is being addressed in the other House. The Labour Party has introduced a Bill that would look at the possibility of confining a denomination's right to its own catchment area, which would mean that while a denominational school could favour children within a parish - one would have to define what that is - it could not go outside the parish. That Bill has passed Second Stage and will go to Committee Stage. There will be issues about whether it is compatible with constitutional provisions.

There is a broad sense that this would be fair even among people who value faith-based education. It is a complicated area. Senator Boyhan is admirably passionate about what an education system should look like in a republic but we have a Constitution that must be respected, particularly by a Minister who is responsible for upholding it. There are issues about how we expand choice while respecting the constitutional provisions and the many patrons who put a huge amount of work into managing their schools in a fair way. I know there are real problems in over-subscribed schools but many schools have a legal obligation to take everyone and do so. A school that is not over-subscribed cannot reject anyone. That will be in the law as we pass the admissions Bill. There is a genuine problem with some over-subscribed schools.

I take Senator Boyhan's point about education in prison. I confess I do not know enough about that to be able to respond to him. I share his passion for the expansion of apprenticeships and traineeships. Senator Ó Clochartaigh raised the possibility that perhaps we should look afresh at the Gaelscoil model and that they do lose out too much in terms of patronage. He hinted at units within schools that would offer all-Irish instruction. I know that has been acceptable in some areas, but not all.

In response to Senator Buttimer, one never comes to the Seanad without learning something. Self-actualisation is a new theme but I am sure I will use it again and without attribution to its source. Senator Paul Daly made an interesting contribution. I certainly do not believe in turning out people who can make widgets. People may say I am neoliberal or that I have been working with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for too long, but that is certainly not my view of the world. Increasingly, enterprise does not value widget makers. It values creativity, the ability to challenge and work in teams and innovation. Ironically, there is a convergence of what employers and the education system want to produce but I do not think they will ever coincide. We must value an education that provides people with much broader values, skills and appreciation. Nonetheless, one of the things we must do is equip young people to progress and do useful work, be it in public, private or whatever sector they choose to end up in. This must be a part of it.

I also take the point that we should not just focus on the high performers. That is not my intention and I would be very keen to look at low performers in particular because that is an important part of confronting disadvantage. I also wish to look at the median or mean - I should know the difference. We need to not just look at top performance. To be fair, I do not think that is the approach.

The Senator is right to highlight a concern about reliance on league tables. At the same time, we must have evidence-based policy. We must benchmark ourselves against something. While I agree that everything that gets measured is not always everything we want to achieve, at the same time, we must do our best to see whether investment in a particular area is delivering and making us better than other countries that are doing similar things in similar areas and possibly getting better results. That is why setting ourselves against the benchmark of best practice is important in any area. However, we should not become obsessed with league tables, particularly league tables that are often very narrow and that are, let us be blunt about it, put together for commercial reasons. The people who put together league tables are often selling services. They can make people at the bottom feel that they need to get a consultant in.

I take the point that we need to start earlier if we want to break the cycle of disadvantage. That is what was important about that ABC programme in Darndale, Tallaght and a number of other places. It deals with the mother of the child before the child is even born and looks at things like nutrition, discipline, homework, attitudes to education and books in the home. It deals with the fact that at the age of three, a child might already be way behind and tries to address that.

In response to Senator Ó Clochartaigh, hopefully, the Irish language policy will be out within a reasonable period. I think it is coming to a conclusion. I have already dealt with the issue of patronage. In response to Senator O'Donnell, nine schools have gone out. We are very conscious that September 2017 is the start date so a decision will be made within weeks. PE will be a leaving certificate subject. Well-being in the junior cycle will involve encouraging people to look after themselves. I would love to be in a position to builds more PE halls but they have definitely been squeezed given the shortage of resources. We are catering for 20,000 additional pupils every year so it is very important that we have school places and they have been the priority. I agree with the Senator regarding work experience as part of degrees. It has a huge impact and is at the core of the apprenticeship model. UL and DCU, which came out of the same stable, value that and others need to catch up with them.

School transport is difficult. The trouble is that one rule book is all we have and we must apply it in 5,000 or 6,000 different parishes and villages. No matter how we design it, we will have people who are discommoded. Nearness to school is the criteria and I suppose it is fair and objective.It is under review. I find it hard to see how it can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. We spend €175 million on it. We are not deliberately trying to cut people off or frustrate them, but there is a limited pot and the children who are absolutely eligible must get priority.

I thank the Seanad for its contribution. This is not a perfect document. It cannot be because it does not have all the resources. I would love to be able to tell my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to give me all of this money. I hope that in a year's time I will have a stronger case to obtain more money than we received this year and keep aggressively moving on. If we deliver the ambition we have for this, it will be seen that the investment made in our education system is realising results through delivering a fairer, more equal and balanced society and allowing entrepreneurship and enterprise success in many walks of life to be delivered. I hope I am putting myself in a position to win the argument for more resources for the education system, but to win it we must do this type of very systematic planning and delivery. I thank those who support this model.

I look forward to returning to the Seanad. The Acting Chairman, Senator Craughwell, did not get a chance to speak.